The Unity
by vengefulkukumber
Summary: Torchwick isn't the only one with unpleasant plans for Vale, and his aren't even the worst. But likewise teams RWBY and JNPR weren't the only ones forged in the flames of Beacon. Read on as a group of young men fight to protect their homes, their friends, and their very lives from those who seek to do harm. OC team story, formerly known as Team BCDA
1. A New Story Begins

**Disclaimer**** \- I own nothing of RWBY, RWBY is the sole property of Roosterteeth and Monty Oum.**

**Hi guys, this is my first fanfic ever and pretty much my first attempt at anything like this at all, so keep that in mind when you're wondering why it's so bad.**

**This is basically my attempt at an OC team story (original, I know) and I would love it if you could give any feedback at all.**

**Rated M because if it's not gory enough in the first few chapters, it certainly will be by the end. Also there'll be an unrestricted use of swearing and I may try a few ships with a couple of lemony chapters since this entire thing is an experiment to see what I can do, but they won't be that common.**

**Finally if you can figure out what franchise my characters' names are from before I introduce the second OC then bonus points to you. Enjoy!**

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Balthier grinned silently to himself. Beacon. He was finally here. After months of preparation he had passed the admissions exam into one of, no, the most prestigious combat school in all of Remnant. He was enjoying the moment while it lasted; it wouldn't be long until they were all thrown into the thick of it and they certainly wouldn't have any time to savour anything at all after that point. Although, trying to enjoy it would be a far more accurate way of saying it. The sounds of Vomit Boy retching over there weren't helping in the slightest.

Deciding that one can only be in awe of the view for so long before it gets boring, even one as spectacular as the one before him, he turned to scan his fellow hunters and huntresses-to-be on the airship with him. Most of them weren't much to look at; apart from the occasional muscle head they pretty much looked like a group of teenagers going out for a Friday night. Then again who was he to judge, he didn't exactly look very impressive himself. On the outside he looked like your average knight, stronger than most but not anything special. But underneath his crimson armour were enough muscles to lift and wield a sword with a blade that went up to his shoulders, which was lucky because that was exactly how he fought. Many a fight had been won due to opponents underestimating his strength. There was one girl caught his attention though, she was dressed in a red and black one of those combat skirts that were all the rage these days. She had hair with red tips on the ends and bright silver eyes. But the feature that caught his attention was that she seemed to be at least one or two years younger than the rest of them on the ship. If she was good enough to get into the school early, then she was certainly one to watch...

He wanted to meet her, and soon. If she was as good as her simply being there seemed to suggest then he wanted her as an ally as soon as possible. If she wasn't, then she was going to need all the help she could get just to make it through the first year. As someone who had always struggled at doing anything well in his early life, Balthier tended to take pity on the underdog. He spotted the perfect opportunity when she somehow managed to cause an explosion in front of the school. If first impressions were everything, then it would seem she's going to need a lot of help. He stood close by while he waited for the girl in white caught in the explosion to finish chewing her out. He thought he recognised the new girl from somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it. All he could conclude though, was that she had the demeanor of someone who had gotten everything she wanted in the past and she probably didn't have to work very hard to get it. He finally remembered who she was when another girl appeared and identified her as the heiress of the Schnee corporation. None of the girls had noticed Balthier yet as he kept back, waiting to make his move, since they were too busy bickering. When the stuck up bitch had finally waltzed off and the other girl dressed in black had also walked away without another word, he went to offer the red girl a hand up as she had just collapsed to the ground. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea.

Balthier was deep in thought as he walked to the main hall where the new students would be spending their first night at Beacon. He had helped up who he now knew as Ruby with the help of Jaune, aka Vomit Boy and went on a walk with them, trying to glean as much information as possible. He had found out she was not only one year younger than him, but two, and he was suitably impressed by her scythe, less by Jaune's sword but then it was old, and they don't make weapons like they used to as his dad used to say. He could feel himself starting to like Ruby but he wasn't sure about her yet, he didn't know anything about her. The question he had to ask was why? Why was she here? He had never heard of anyone skipping ahead two years into Beacon, not even in false rumours. He wanted to ask her what she did to convince Ozpin to give her a place but then the blond knight had turned up out of the blue and ruined that. He didn't trust anyone here, not yet. He had made too many mistakes in the past for him to accept people at face value. So what now? Ruby had left the two of them as soon as they reached the meeting point for all the new students and Balthier simply said goodbye to Jaune and found a spot to listen to Ozpin's speech. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but a rather depressing explanation of how what they were expecting from the school wasn't what they were going to get certainly wasn't it. He supposed he would just have to wait until the partners and teams were announced. He knew no more than the rest of them as to how the teams would be chosen, but he guessed that the students wouldn't have much say in the matter. Balthier decided there wasn't much else left do but sleep, so he got down to do just that. Unlike many of the kids here, no one from his school had gotten in to Beacon except him. He had no one to chat to so sleep was really the only option. Unfortunately sleep isn't very easy when people are having a heated argument not ten metres from you. Turning over he was rather unsurprised that it was Ruby again and her "friends" from in front of the school as well as another person he didn't recognise. He couldn't get a good look in the dark but she seemed to have practically golden hair. Eventually they decided to give it a rest for the night and do what many others were; get some sleep before the hard day ahead of them. Balthier was left alone to his thoughts until he too drifted off into dreamless sleep.

"Well Glynda? What do you think of the newest batch?"  
"I think we have a rather diverse group this year sir. Ranging from the excellent, like Misses Schnee and Nikos, to the ones I think should be sent home now, before they get hurt. Remind me again why you allowed that Arc boy in, and Miss Rose is far too inexperienced in combat for this level of training!"  
"I have my reasons Glynda, you know that. What about young Mr Blut?"  
"Balthier Blut yes? The one from the Henry Floyd Combat School? I don't remember anyone else from that school making it here but I do recall his entrance exam; he was adept with most weapons we gave him. In fact he could match our swords expert blow for blow, and the bow expert, and the spear expert... You were the one to interview him weren't you, did he tell you what his semblance was?"  
"Yes"  
"...But you're not going to tell me what it was."  
"No."  
"Fine, have it your way, just remember I too have a say in the goings on of this school."  
"I'll keep that in mind until the next time you remind me."  
"I'm sorry sir, I missed that. "  
"Nothing Glynda. Nothing at all."

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**Sorry it's quite short. It just seemed like the only way to end the first chapter since this and the second one wouldn't fit together very well.**

**Unfortunately I probably won't be very regular in my uploads since my life is pretty chaotic at the moment but I'll try to make it at least once a week, once a fortnight at worst.**

**Anyway, please review, any feedback is great, and I'll have the next chapter up in the next couple of days since it's already half written**


	2. Trouble in the Forest

**Disclaimer****\- I own nothing of RWBY, all of that belongs to Roosterteeth and Monty Oum.**

**Hello again, if you're reading this then I guess you thought the first chapter wasn't complete drivel, which I will take as a complement.**

**The second OC is introduced in this chapter and if you haven't figured out what franchise the name Balthier is from then you probably will after you see him.**

**Also things get a little bloody in this chapter so if you're not into that then turn away now before I scar you for life.**

**Without further ado, let the tale begin... again. :D**

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Breakfast. Breakfast good. Breakfast very good. Balthier was not a morning person. Not by any stretch of the imagination. While his brain slowly chugged into gear he contemplated the day before and the one ahead of him. They were told to meet Professor Ozpin at the cliff just on the edge of the Emerald Forest by eight this morning. It was seven now and the cliff was a half hour walk away, although some of the more eager students were already on their way; either unwilling to wait any more or simply too frightened of being late to risk it. Just looking around he could already tell which ones would be dropping out within the month: they were the ones looking around like frightened rabbits surrounded by wolves, constantly checking the time to make sure they wouldn't be late. If you can't make it through this first mission that you're expected to complete with no training or experience whatsoever without shitting yourselves, then how could you possibly cope with what's to come in a few years. Whatever was thrown at them today, it couldn't be that bad, could it?

Seeing the majority of the new intake start to pour out of the cafeteria, Balthier decided to join them and make his way to the cliff. He spotted Ruby again as well as her blond haired friend from last night. Now that there was more light to see by he could tell she was someone he wanted to get to know better, purely to get to closer to Ruby of course, no other reason... He also recognised another girl that could only be Pyrrha Nikos. He was surprised and slightly honoured; to be considered to be in the same skill range as the best youth fighter he had ever heard of was extremely flattering.

When he arrived at the cliff Balthier was surprised to find a huge row of metal plates on the ground. There must have been at least a hundred of them, no, 120 exactly. One for each new student this year, although what they were going to be used for was still a mystery to him. Each student was allocated a unique number and were told to stand on the plate that corresponded to that number. At eight o'clock exactly Ozpin gave his speech, informing them of their task retrieve a relic and revealing that the first person they made eye contact with would be their partner and the person they trusted the most for the next four years. After that the plates started launching the kids into the forest.

Ozpin smiled to himself as he watched the last of the new blood disappear into the thick brush that was the Emerald Forest. He liked to let them think that their partners were completely random, but in reality each of the springs were angled and powered perfectly so that each student landed with only one other person in a hundred metre radius. Sometimes the pairs he tried to form thwarted him and walked off in completely opposite directions and found someone else, but the majority played right into his hands. He believed, with one or two last minute adjustments, that this years pairs would certainly be interesting; especially Miss Rose and the Schnee heiress. Yes, the headmaster thought taking another sip of his coffee, this was going to be an interesting year for all involved.

Balthier had to think fast as he sailed through the air. Unfortunately almost no one from his school make it into an academy after their tenure there, so the teachers saw fit to not bother teaching some of the more uncommon infiltration techniques, meaning the knight had no idea what the launch pads were, or what to expect, or how to land. He saw students firing their weapons in an attempt to decelerate and others were using their momentum to their advantage and simply bounced across the tree tops. Coming to a decision, Balthier drew his greatsword and swung it at the next tree he flew past. He almost managed to cleave straight through the thick trunk as if it weren't there, but the strategy was able to stop both the blade and the young man desperately clinging on, even if it did almost dislocate his arms in the process. The climb down wasn't easy but he was glad to finally have his feet on solid ground. Now began the trek to wherever it was he was meant to go. Well, he thought solemnly, if the cliff we were launched off is to the south, then I guess I'm meant to go north. It didn't take long to find the nearest living thing; pity it was an ursa.

How could something so big be so quiet was all Balthier thought as he dived out of the grimm's way. Luckily they were in a reasonably clear area of the forest, nowhere for it to hide anymore. The two of them squared off, neither making the first move. Now that he had the chance Balthier scanned his opponent. Talk about trial by fire, minors are hard enough but an ursa major! This is going to be tricky. He slowly drew his sword again and gripped it with both hands in front of him. His sword which he had lovingly crafted and named Tournesol was almost as tall as he was and had two separate blades facing away from each other. The gap between the blades, though made it's overall integrity weaker, was essential for the weapon's "secondary" functions. Finally the sword had the chance to do what it was made to do, and Tournesol was thirsty for ursa blood. Despite his armour, Balthier had learned to be faster and more agile than he had any right to be, as he proved to the beast when he rolled under it's paw as it tried to claw his face off. Now alongside the ursa he made a savage one handed slash intended to open a deep wound from it's back to it's stomach. What actually happened was his blade rebounded off the bear-like creature's armour plates and the shock stunned the hunter in training. The ursa quickly reacted and gave Balthier a backhanded swipe that sent him careening across the clearing like a leaf in the wind. By the time he has come to his senses, the ursa was already on top of him preparing to chew on his head like a dog would chew it's favourite toy. Balthier closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. He was furious with himself; to be killed on his first mission, not even that! This was just to choose the teams! It took a great weight on his chest to snap him out of what he believed were his last thoughts and realise the inevitable hadn't arrived yet. What greeted him when he opened his eyes was an ursa head severed completely from it's body and a headless corpse laying in a slowly growing pool of blood. The cut was remarkably clean; he could see the grimm's windpipe and spine virtually undamaged, apart from the fact that they were in two different pieces that is. Balthier struggled to his feet to look around and spotted a young man standing behind him. He was wrapped in a large grey cloak that covered most of his body and held a sword as big as Balthier's own, although the stranger's was sporting a rather ominous blood stain that answered a few questions running through the knight's head.

"Why did you attack it's back?"

"Huh?" Of all the ways the conversation could have started, this was the one Balthier expected least.

"Everyone knows you go for the neck or the underbelly of an ursa major, the rest of it's too armoured."

"I've, uhh, never really fought an ursa before." Balthier admitted sheepishly.

The stranger sighed "Neither have the rest of us. I know strategy goes out the window in a fight, but really, try to remember the basics."

Balthier held out his hand and introduced himself. The newcomer hesitated for a second before taking it in a firm grip. "Cloud. I guess we're in this together now." Balthier nodded in agreement and pointed in the direction he was heading in originally, explaining what he had guessed when he landed. Cloud too was heading in that direction when he heard the fight and intervened. They resumed their quest to find the relics and disappeared into the forest.

Although Balthier disliked trusting people, he figured that if they were to be partners, they couldn't hide anything from each other, well, apart from a couple of harmless secrets; sparring was so much more fun when your opponent has no idea of any of the tricks you have up your sleeves. Cloud was similarly quiet about his skills, so instead they talked about their lives up until this point. Unlike Balthier, Cloud had never gone to a combat school, instead he was taught by his father until he was old enough to attend Beacon. He too had made his own weapon and named it Buster Blade; it was a two handed sword like Balthier's but with rather curious slots in the blade near the hilt. Their use wasn't obvious to the naked eye and although Balthier wondered what they were for, he didn't ask as he thought that if he was going to tell him, Cloud would have by now. Suddenly Cloud stopped and grinned at Balthier; "they think they're being quiet."

Balthier's second encounter with the grimm that day was only slightly better than the first. Three beowolves came into view, surrounding the two warriors and preventing any form of escape. Balthier drew Tournesol and looked to his right to check if his new partner was ready. Cloud wasn't there. He had disappeared. Great, the fucker had somehow managed to ditch him and left him to face the three enemies alone. Two enemies now, one of them had just lost his head. Wait, what! It was true, blood was spurting out of the freshly made hole where the beowolf's head once was like a fountain. Slowly life left it's body and the grimm fell over back into the bushes it had emerged from. The other beowolves were looking at what was left of their pack-mate in confusion, wondering what had happened and trying to figure out if it would happen to them. Balthier took advantage of their puzzlement and rushed the closest one to him, closing the gap in less than a second and shoving the greatsword into it's chest before it could react. The last beowolf though, was smarter than the others and quickly decided to attack Balthier while his sword was embedded in it's pack-brother. Balthier knew he couldn't get Tournesol out in time so he let go and held his arms up to cover his head, letting his armour bear the brunt of the attack. The claws sent Balthier reeling but couldn't puncture the crimson vambraces. He reacted by aiming a kick at the beast's stomach that caused it to stagger backwards a few steps. It was preparing to launch another attack when it was interrupted by Cloud fading into existence between Balthier and the beowolf. While still somewhat transparent Cloud ripped through the creature's shoulder and severed it's arm completely. He finished the job while the monster was still in shock with a blow to the head, a wound that allowed the beowolf's brain matter to ooze out between it's eyes. Balthier collected Tournesol and cleaned it on the grass, while asking Cloud what the hell just happened. Cloud just shrugged, "It's my semblance. I can turn completely invisible at will, though not for very long." Balthier was a little miffed that the swordsman didn't warn him, but then he supposed there was no time before the grimm attacked. Accepting Cloud's answer, he continued into the forest with his partner in tow once more.

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**Well that was a thing. Hopefully you enjoyed the fight scenes and the introduction of Cloud, figured it out yet? If not then either you're not a gamer or you need to stop calling yourself a gamer.**

**I'd just like to clarify that I only took inspiration from the series for the names and weapons; the personalities and most of the weapons are all mine. Also I do realise Cloud's sword is actually a Buster Sword, not blade, but blade sounds more like a weapon's name whereas sword sounds like a type of weapon.**

**Please review and I'll see you for the next chapter.**


	3. The Chase

**Disclaimer**** \- I do not own RWBY, all rights belong to Roosterteeth **

**Hey again, this chapter is much longer than the rest and I really enjoyed writing it.**

**Again please review, and away we go.**

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The relics weren't as Balthier and Cloud expected. The ruined temple, they found, housed a host of black and white chess pieces upon pedestals. Some of the relics were already missing, signifying that they weren't the first ones there. Balthier walked into the middle, "think it's the place?"  
Cloud scanned the area "well, evidently others have thought so." He motioned to the empty pedestals. The two of them decided to check for a trap and were so preoccupied with their task that they didn't notice another pair watching them in bemusement. "Lost something?" The voice startled Balthier and he jumped before whipping around to face the intruders. It was Ruby's blond friend and the girl with the bow in her hair.  
"We're checking for traps, but I'm starting to think there aren't any and if there were any then the others would have set them off." Cloud explained, seemingly unfazed by the sudden entrance.  
"Fair enough." she grinned, "I'm Yang and this is Blake." Yang pointed to her silent companion, introducing the two of them. Cloud and Balthier in turn told the newcomers their names and turned back to the chess pieces. Balthier walked over to a white bishop piece, took it and held it up for his partner to see. Cloud just shrugged.  
"How about a cute little pony!" The two boys looked over to see Yang choosing a relic for her pair. The four of them were about to leave when all hell broke loose again.

It all started with a scream, "some girl's in trouble!" Yang exclaimed, concern written all over her face. Next they heard a shout coming from above their heads, "Heads up!" They looked up to see a girl in a red cloak fall out of the sky, only to be knocked into a tree by another teenager flying across the sky. Blake was apparently the only one of them that wasn't left speechless, "did your sister just call out of the sky?" She asked Yang. It looked like the brawler was about to answer when there was another interruption; this time in the form of a ginger girl dressed in pink riding in on the back of an ursa. If that wasn't enough to make the situation absurd, she also seemed almost disappointed when it fell over dead, not relieved. Once again Blake questioned the logic of what had just happened and the others were left unsure of what to say. This silence didn't last long though, as the girl ran up to the pedestals and picked up a white rook piece, all the while claiming to be the "queen of the castle." Yep, she's definitely insane, thought Balthier. Ruby climbed out of the tree and was reunited with her sister. That peace was also short-lived, broken by the sight and sounds of Pyrrha Nikos being chased towards the temple by a deathstalker of all things. The insanity kept coming though; as another girl fell from the sky after falling off the nevermore she had apparently been riding with Ruby. Thanks to Jaune saving her with his body, she was OK, even if her dignity had taken a hit. Finally the deathstalker got the better off Pyrrha and sent her sprawling at Balthier's feet. He helped her up while the last pair to reach the temple ran out of the forest. They stopped in front of the group of initiates and attempted to catch their breath. The taller one in front was wearing a blue hoodie and jeans underneath a relatively small metal breastplate and sparse pieces of armour covered parts of the rest of his body. For some reason his hair was a strange shade of dark blue and he had a subtle scar along his cheek. On his arm rested a blue shield in which there was sheathed a short sword. In contrast to his friend the other guy was quite short, even more so than Ruby, and had a dirty shade of white hair. It was similar to Weiss' hair, only darker. He was wearing a bright yellow sleeveless body warmer and a long-sleeved T-shirt. On the back of his waist was a curious contraption that must be his weapon, although Balthier had no idea how it could work. Yang grinned at the newcomers, "unless you've brought a huge pack of beowolves with you boys, then I'm afraid I'll have to be very disappointed with you." The only response she got was a shared glance between the two boys. Yang wasn't happy, "I was just joking!"  
"No time guys, the deathstalker's heading this way." Cloud pointed out.  
Ruby just smirked at this, "not for long." She quickly pulled out her scythe and fired it; propelling herself towards the giant scorpion at high-speed... only to go ahead and bounce off its thick shell. Coming to her senses Ruby promptly retreated, but the nevermore that dropped her and Weiss off was circling back. It shot feather after razor-sharp feather into the ground around Ruby. Yang, who had chased after Ruby, barely managed to avoid harm but Ruby's cloak was caught by one of the feathers, stopping her in her tracks. All of a sudden the deathstalker was right behind Ruby, breathing down her neck, and lifted its tail to strike. Balthier saw Weiss shoot past at incredible speeds, but he could see already she wasn't going to make it in time. He felt the blue haired guy next to him flare his aura and holds up his hands in front of himself, eyes scrunched up in concentration. The deathstalker's stinger suddenly bounced off what seemed to be thin air. Upon closer inspection, Balthier saw that there was an almost transparent, blue barrier between Ruby and the stinger. The deathstalker was not to be deterred though and immediately tried again, this time smashing right through the shield, eliciting a gasp from the boy who had conjured it. However, it bought Weiss the time she needed. She froze the beast's stinger in place just before it connected. Balthier couldn't hear from where he stood, but it looked like Weiss was picking that moment to give Ruby a lecture. He shook his head; apparently battle doesn't change people that much.

"Guys, that thing's circling back!" Jaune pointed out with a quiver in his voice.  
"And if that pack hasn't picked our trail back up, I'll be surprised." Said the teen in the yellow jacket whom the group had found out was called Hope. His partner in blue was called Basch and they had apparently stumbled across an alpha beowolf as big as an ursa sniffing the three bodies of what they had assumed were members of his pack. The beast gave a rallying roar as soon as he saw the terrified boys and ran after them with the rest of his pack behind him. Basch claimed that there were at least two hundred of them by the time they managed to give them the slip.  
"More just kept joining the hunt every second, I've never been more terrified in my life." Hope shuddered at the memory.  
"We don't need to fight them." Ruby pointed out. Balthier agreed, their task was to get the relics, that was all. There was one problem though. "The beowolves will catch us." Cloud put rather bluntly. "When we're dealing with them the other two grimm will get us while we're distracted."  
Hope agreed apparently; "if four of us lead away the beowolves then the two slower grimm will most likely follow the larger group of eight." Balthier looked at Cloud and caught his eye. Cloud nodded, "Balthier and I will go," he looked at Basch and Hope, "and if the two if you are happy, I think you should come as well. You know where they were and evidently how to get away."  
Basch stared at Cloud with a stoic look in his eyes, "I couldn't ask you to do something I wouldn't myself." Hope was less confident but agreed nonetheless.  
"We'll loop around to the cliff when we get away!" Balthier shouted to the rapidly retreating group of teenagers heading in the opposite direction to them. "When" he had said.

They ran for about five minutes to avoid risking the nevermore and the deathstalker following them instead of the others. They soon slowed to a walk as they drew their weapons, wary of an ambush. Hope's weapon was revealed to be a boomerang, Hope caught Balthier staring and explained it had edges as sharp as any sword. They soon reached the point at which Basch and Hope got away, but there wasn't even the slightest sign of grimm. Cloud stopped them and motioned for them to be quiet. He looked at Hope and pointed at a small clump of bushes. Understanding what was needed, Hope threw his boomerang into the bushes and a roar of pain was heard. They were running even before they heard the beowolf, Hope catching his boomerang as it came whizzing back towards him. The chase was on.

Half an hour had passed. Half an hour of running. Half an hour of sheer terror as they ran for their lives. Occasionally a beowolf got too close and Hope eliminated it with an expert throw, but for the most part the pack stayed at the edge of their vision and out of range. Basch was right; there were a lot of them. The only problem was that the initiates were tiring, and the beowolves weren't. Balthier made a desperate decision. He flared his aura and concentrated it in Tournesol, activating the yellow dust inside. Electricity ran along the two blades that made up his sword as he charged up the railgun that was hidden in the hilt of Tournesol. He charged the weapon for a full five seconds before swiftly twisting round to unleash hell upon the pack behind him. He released his aura holding the round in place and fired a projectile the size of his fist at a speed greater than most bullets are capable of reaching. All this pent-up energy resulted in a huge explosion, and the explosives inside the shell just made it bigger. The grimm at the front of the pack were obliterated instantly and the ones further back were confused and rattled by the explosion, so much so that they lost sight of the fleeing teens. When the alpha caught up and saw his minions wandering around aimlessly he slaughtered a few of them and told the rest to find their scent. When he reached the river where the trail ended he killed a few more of his pack and let out an almighty cry that shook the trees and scared birds out of their nests.

The boys had stopped for a minute to catch their breath when they heard the alpha's cry of frustration. They looked at each other in fear and decided to cut their break short, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the pack as possible. They started a quick jog towards the cliff they were supposed to get the relics to, but soon the ground started declining, the path they found leading them further and further down. They came out of the forest into a huge ravine. They looked up and saw what was left of a once magnificent temple, now equal parts rubble and ruin. This wasn't helped by the fact that a nevermore had just slammed through the supports of the bridge that allowed entry to the temple. The teenagers looked up at the huge blocks raining down upon them and saw their friends desperately avoiding the grimm's attack.  
"We've got to help them!" Shouted Basch. The others said nothing, only looking towards the direction they had come from. Basch turned around, confused by their silence, and saw the pack. There were a lot. If Basch was right and there were two hundred before, then there had to be at least twice that number now. They covered the entire hill the boys had run down and there were still more even further back, their black fur turning the forest into a sea of shadows. The chase was over. Now it was time for the battle to begin.

Balthier quickly came up with a plan and relayed it to the rest of the group as the first wave of grimm charged; "Basch, bring up a shield at the last possible moment. Stun the ones in front and we can make the first move. If we can keep up the momentum we can cut our way to the alpha and the rest should disperse!" In truth, Balthier had no idea if the beowolves would run, but they had no choice but to try; they couldn't fight them all. At least they could say they killed the beowolf that managed to rally a few hundred of his species before they died. The first line was getting closer and closer with each passing second, like a tsunami threatening to engulf them. Their weapons were drawn, ready for the moment chaos would ensue. Out of the corner of his eye, Balthier thought he saw Cloud place something into one of the slots in his sword but there was no time to question, the grimm were upon them. As promised, Basch generated a barrier that the beowolves slammed into, stunning them for a fraction of a second, but a fraction was all that was needed. Balthier activated his semblance and dived into hell.

If he had to describe what experiencing his semblance was like, Balthier would say that it was like everything was moving in slow motion. He could see clearer than many faunus and could analyse anything he saw to gain incredible detail of it, even movements. Thanks to his semblance, Balthier could tell what his enemy was going to do before they did. On top of all that he could copy any kind of movement he saw. As long as his body was capable, he was never less skilled than his opponent. This came in useful now; he could see the perfect path to eliminate the beowolves in front of him and avoid the counter attack of the ones behind. The group of teens plunged into the crowd with Balthier and Cloud leading the charge, cleaving through two or three grimm with every swing of their massive swords. The beowolves had made a major mistake; there were simply too many of them in too small an area for them to be able to move or attack effectively. They had no choice but to stand there and take what the boys had to give them. They seemed to fight for an eternity, the tide of monsters never-ending and never wavering. Time became meaningless and none of them could remember how many they had killed, save for that it wasn't enough. Each and every one of them was covered in blood and brain matter and who knows what other kinds of gore, none of them cared though, none of them realised. Somehow, against all odds, they managed to reach the alpha directly in the centre of the horde that wanted their lives, and immediately wished they hadn't. To say it was large was an understatement; it easily towered over an ursa and had armour to rival that of a major's. His red eyes glowed with contempt as he looked at the weaklings that had dared to challenge him. Suddenly Cloud's Buster Blade was engulfed in flames. "DUCK!" He yelled and spun his sword a full 360 degrees, unleashing a wall of fire that narrowly avoided the heads of his friends. Every beowolf for ten metres around was reduced to ash, except for the alpha who hid behind his armour and was completely unharmed. For a short while, the maelstrom that surrounded them subsided, but soon the still substantial amount of grimm surrounding them surged forward to fill the vacuum. Basch, Hope and Cloud fought back the tide and held them at bay while Balthier made for the alpha, intent on finishing the fight before his friends were overwhelmed. Unknowingly, they had formed a battleground for the grimm and the knight to duel in. Immediately Balthier realised he was at a severe disadvantage; the alpha was fast. Faster than his size suggested he had any right to be, and as soon as the alpha realised this, he pressed his advantage. He sacrificed the ability to punch through Balthier's armour in favour of swift attacks that Balthier could barely keep up with, waiting until he tired out to make the kill easier. Balthier knew the fight had to end now, before he reached that point of exertion. He surprised the beowolf with a boot to the chest a gained enough space to transform Tournesol to it's secondary form. The two blades unfolded away from each other and ended up pointing opposite directions, forming a dual bladed sword. Tournesol's secondary form was better balanced and allowed for greater speeds of attacks, although it lacked the sheer power and cleaving ability of a greatsword and the railgun couldn't fire in this form. Balthier immediately went back on the offensive; pouring his aura into the attack and never allowing the beowolf an opportunity to fight back, forcing him to hide behind its armour. That led to Balthier's next problem; he couldn't get past the armour and his energy and aura reserves were running low. If the fight didn't end soon then he wouldn't survive the encounter. He had no choice, he had to use the last part of his semblance. Even though it was unreliable when he had a full aura supply and he had never tried it on a grimm before, let alone one as powerful as this, he had to try it, or each and every one of them would perish. Balthier feinted to the right before twisting round and aiming for the head with the other end of his sword, but again the alpha blocked the attempt. This time however, Balthier could see directly into the beast's eyes. He poured all his aura into his semblance and forced his mind into the beowolf's. Somehow, against all odds, it worked. When used on a person Balthier could see into their mind and read their thoughts, even plant his own ideas into their minds, effectively hypnotising them. But on a grimm, Balthier found, it was far more difficult. All of its thoughts were disjointed and chaotic, making it impossible to read and he had no idea about where he could plant an idea so that it attacked it's pack mates and cause them to scatter; which rendered his original plan impossible. On top of all that, the beast knew he was in there and tried it's best to force him out. He knew he had little time to do whatever it was he was going to do before he was ejected from the alpha's mind, so he put up a hasty barrier in the beowolf's mind so that it's brain couldn't communicate with its body and jumped back into his own. When Balthier regained control of his body he saw that his barrier was not as effective as he thought. The beowolf was still able to move, albeit rather sluggishly. It was enough for what Balthier planned to do though, he shifted Tournesol back into a greatsword and took aim. He stared into the beowolf's eyes as it tried to fight back, and swiftly decapitated him in one fluid movement. He walked over to the head and held it up for all around to see and let loose a triumphant bellow, glad that it was almost over. Both beowolf and human alike stopped and turned to look at what Balthier held up. The smaller, more cowardly grimm towards the rear of the army slunk off while the betas exploited the confusion and fought among themselves, trying to claim the recently vacated seat of leader. Suddenly the four of them charged forward and the beowolves broke. They ran despite the fact that there were still more than enough of them to obliterate the boys ten times over. What was once a battle for survival rapidly turned into a massacre.

When the last of the beowolves disappeared into the forest the youths turned and looked from each other to the destruction that surrounded them. Only now, looking at each other, did they realise the state they were in. Yet somehow, with the exception of Hope who had received a bite to the shoulder, none of the blood that drenched them was theirs. Balthier's legs gave way to exhaustion and he fell to his knees, simply happy that the nightmare was over, yet also proud of the fact that he had killed the beast that had managed to rally what seemed like every beowolf in the entire Emerald Forest. He also realised that they had been incredibly lucky though; beowolves were not smart. A human army of that size would have never allowed them to gain the momentum they did. The boys would have met some kind of defence and been halted and killed immediately. As it was, the beowolves were so focused on blood that they were climbing over each other to get at the flesh they craved and subsequently were caught in the charge. Balthier heard a cry from above him and looked up in time to see Ruby remove the head of a nevermore. He couldn't help but laugh; it seems they weren't the only ones performing epic feats today.

"Balthier Blut, Cloud Storm, Basch Damm, and Hope Amarelo. The four of you retrieved the white bishop pieces, from this day forward you shall be known as team 'Barracuda', led by Balthier Blut." While the other teams were being called up and named Balthier considered his appointment. The position of leader was sudden and he had no idea as to what gave Ozpin the idea that he was fit to lead. Sure all of them were being watched so he had to have seen Balthier and what was now team BCDA fight the beowolves, but what made him stand out as a leader? His teammates were ecstatic for him and so were RWBY and JNPR, but the position put a heavy weight on his chest and Balthier wished he could give it to someone else. Once the ceremony was finished, Balthier ran to catch up to Ozpin as he walked through the corridors to his office. "Sir!" Ozpin turned around to face the student. "Yes Mr Blut, what can I do for you?"

Balthier was starting to feel a little ridiculous now, but he had to know,"I just wanted to ask you something."

"You want to know why I picked you for leadership." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"Uh, yes actually. How did you know?" Balthier was starting to feel more and more uncomfortable with how this conversation was going.

"There is always someone every year who asks me that. As to answer your first question; I chose you because I believe you have what it takes. I trust my gut more than I do other forms of evidence when it comes to these things, and my gut is telling me right now that you will make a splendid leader."

Balthier was speechless, this man seemed to make decisions that could affect the lives of those involved tremendously completely arbitrarily.

"Good luck Mr Blut, do not disappoint my gut; it is already in a bad mood because I skipped lunch today in favour of watching a group of teenagers take on an entire army of beowolves." With that he walked away and left the knight standing there in astonishment. Balthier made to return to his team, his thoughts in turmoil. Somehow, he couldn't help but like and trust the headmaster; he gave off a kind of atmosphere that calmed and reassured you without him having to say anything.

Ozpin smiled to himself as he sat down at his desk. He did so enjoy messing with students. He trusted Balthier would do the right thing and lead his team to greatness as they were capable, but he couldn't resist adding to the mysterious image he gave to the students. He had plenty of proof that Balthier was an excellent leader; the plan he used to beat the beowolves for example. It was tactically sound, if a little desperate, and the others followed him without question, a quality that all leaders needed from their teams; loyalty. Ozpin pulled up the files of teams BCDA, JNPR and RWBY. These were the ones to watch he knew, interesting things would come from them.

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**And so is the final two members of BCDA revealed, and yes I really do like Hope before you ask, despite everyone hating him for some reason.**

**I hope you enjoyed the fight scene and can I just say I love Ozpin. He is easily one of my favourite characters and I love imagining him as slightly aloof.**

**Anyway, please review and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	4. Jogs, Food and Treason

**Disclaimer**** \- I do not own RWBY. RWBY is the property of Roosterteeth**

**Hello again. Sorry that this chapter is a little boring but I think I really needed to do some kind of character development since I kind of completely neglected showing any kind of personality in the last few chapters. Besides, this leads me quite nicely to my next part of the story. **

**Please review if you can and enjoy.**

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Balthier sat down on a bench outside his dorm building and waited for his running partner. They were usually late, so much so that Balthier wondered why he bothered arriving on time and used the extra time to sleep an extra ten minutes. He contemplated the last few weeks at Beacon Academy and how much his life had changed in that short time. He had been forced to grow as a person after Ozpin forced the role of team leader upon him; he had to prove himself capable of leading people inside and out of the field, and show that he could be relied on in the weeks that followed the initiation in the Emerald Forest. Balthier still had no idea what he was expected to do or whether he was doing a good job, but so far no one had said anything so he assumed that meant he wasn't doing a _bad_ job. That led him to start thinking of his friends. The events that transpired during the initiation had caused the three teams to become fast friends and Balthier had gotten to know and trust his teammates. Cloud was unusual in that he didn't go to a combat school but regardless was easily one of the most skilled fighters in the first year, possibly in all of Beacon. He wasn't particularly talkative like Nora, but at the same he wasn't the strong silent type like Ren. Cloud generally spoke when spoken to and left it at that. He rarely spoke about his past, only giving a few snippets of information, and became moody whenever it was brought up. After a leaders meeting in which they were all advised to find out their teammates' skills, strengths and weaknesses, Balthier had found out that Cloud's Buster Blade had slots in which he could place crystals, which allowed him to perform feats like the wall of fire in the Emerald Forest. Cloud's semblance was a heavy drain on his aura so it was an ability he couldn't maintain for long, and it also did nothing to his smell; which meant that grimm that were looking for him would still be able to find him. Basch was a little different. He was incredibly aggressive and always thought that a problem could be solved with his sword or his fist. One of the things they had found out about him was the fact that he had a very strong sense of right and wrong that never wavered. He never worried as to whether or not what he was doing was the correct course of action and stuck with whatever plan he was following to the end. On the one hand it was great that he had the utmost faith in himself and the team and never gave up, but he was also very inflexible in the middle of an assignment and it was difficult to convince him that maybe they should go around the nevermore nest and not through it. His weapons were relatively traditional with a couple of exceptions; his sword, which he called Durandal, wasn't anything special, but his shield, which functioned as a sheath for the sword and was called Zodiac, was a different matter. It could expand to over ten times its original size to form a mobile barricade. This was useful in situations like if the team was in a narrow corridor, them Basch could cover them with his shield while they moved up behind him. When you combine this with his semblance, Basch suddenly becomes incredibly adept in defence, a stark contrast to his aggressive personality. Finally was Hope. The boy was a genius, that's all Balthier could say, Hope was easily the smartest person he had ever met. He excelled in every class, with the exception of the physical training classes, and could read a person like a book. The only drawback was that he had the tendency to start speaking what the others referred to as 'techspeak'. He was easily excited by any form of technology and would explain how anything worked whether or not anyone asked to know. When he built his boomerang, he named it Nue and equipped it with every attachment that he thought possibly useful; it had a motion tracker, a laser operated rangefinder and some kind of radar that could detect any living thing around him when he threw it into the air, and that's just a few the attachments. It was the Swiss army knife of weapons. Speaking of weapons, Nue could also straighten to effectively form a short sword if grimm got too close or a cord could be attached to either end of the boomerang, allowing it to function as a bow. Hope's semblance suited him as a long range fighter; he could teleport short distances in the blink of an eye, or as he called it; Hope could 'blink'. His team had gotten to know the other teams as well; team CRDL for example was a bunch of arseholes. They seemed to think they were the strongest team in Beacon and to make it worse, that Cardin idiot seems to think he's God's gift to women. But out of all the teams formed after the initiation, BCDA had gotten to know teams JNPR and RWBY the most. Although Balthier disagreed with Ozpin's decision to make Jaune leader, he had become good friends with the lad and did his best to help him improve. Then there was team RWBY; Weiss wasn't as stuck up as Balthier originally thought, even if she was still very arrogant, she had every reason to be with her skills. Blake was just as quiet as Cloud was, she not once spoke about her past and Balthier could tell she was hiding something. He often caught Hope looking at Blake with a thoughtful expression, knowing Hope he would have already figured out her secret by now and was keeping it to himself. He did seem very interested in her bow however. Next came Ruby and her adoration of cookies. Her youth certainly shined through in her personality; she was constantly bouncing off the walls and had a seemingly endless supply of energy. She was always the first up and ready for the day and the last ready for bed at night. None of the others had any idea how she did it, maybe all that milk and cookies had a more positive effect that previously believed. Finally there was Yang, and speak of the devil here she was now. He stood up to greet the grinning blond as she ran towards him.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!" she said, trying desperately to get her breath back.

"Not as long as you usually do." in truth Balthier didn't mind waiting for her at all; it gave him time to reflect and think, a precious luxury these days. Without further ado, they began their run, although both of them treated it like a race.

Balthier had met Yang on the morning of the first proper day at Beacon, they both got up early for a run and bumped into each other as they exited the building. They ended up keeping each other company while they ran around the campus and chatted for a short time while they regained their breath. After that, the two teens agreed to spend every morning running together in a circuit around Beacon. Balthier finished today a fraction of a second behind Yang, but she treated it as if it were a mile like she always did.

"I'm ... getting ... closer." Balthier claimed in between breaths.

"Tell yourself ... whatever ... keeps you happy. Just know ... you'll never beat me." Yang wasn't exactly the modest type. They parted ways and headed for their respective dorms. Balthier thought about how close he had gotten to Yang; the two of them were best friends and Balthier was almost as close to her as he was his team. As he strolled into his dorm he noticed that two of his teammates were still in bed while Hope was sitting on his bed looking at Balthier with an amused smirk plastered on his face.

"What are you looking at?" Balthier asked with fake venom in his voice.

"N...n...nothing boss!" Hope feigned terror and cowered away for a second before returning to normal. "In all fairness though, I'm surprised you haven't realised it yet."

"Realised what?" Balthier frowned at Hope.

He just tapped the side of his nose, "that would be telling." With that, Hope wandered off to find some breakfast. Balthier shook his head and gave up trying to figure out what the boy was going on about. He looked at the other two members of his team and briefly considered waking them up, but it was the weekend; he could let them sleep in for a little while longer. Balthier decided to take a shower and just forget the world for a few minutes.

* * *

Balthier and his team, minus Hope, walked into the dining hall and found their friends. Balthier sat down next to Yang while Cloud and Basch all but fell into their seats next to Hope.

"Jeez, what happened to you two?" Ruby asked.

Cloud pointed towards Balthier, "this twat thought it would be hilarious to wake us up with some dubstep cranked all the way up to max."

Balthier didn't even bother denying it, "and now I _know_ it's hilarious! Besides, what else am I meant to do with dubstep? Listen to it?" With that he started digging into his fried breakfast he had picked up earlier.

"Sounds almost as bad as Ruby's whistle." Weiss remarked.

"I get woken up by that thing and I'm across the corridor." Jaune complained.

Ruby was looking a little sheepish, "maybe if you get up earlier like Yang then I won't have to use it." She replied defensively. The banter continued while they ate their breakfast; if one didn't know better, they would have thought they were just a group of ordinary, teenage friends.

Balthier stood up after finishing his meal, "I'm going into Vale later this morning to grab some more dust; I'm almost out after what happened on Friday." He stared pointedly at Basch.

"Hey don't blame me, blame Hope; he's the one who built the bloody thing!" Basch replied.

"When I said to get me some yellow dust, I expected you to take it from my stash; not his!" Hope said defensively.

"Well I saw a massive jar of dust and I figured 'only Hope and his contraptions need that much yellow dust' so I took it!"

"It was a months supply for my railgun. I hope you two realise you're paying for it all." Hope and Basch groaned in unison and blamed each other for their misfortune.

"What was it meant to do anyway? All we heard was a massive bang and shouting." Nora asked Hope.

"I was trying to see if I could set up a personal AI for all of us." he replied nonchalantly, as if this were a normal thing for a seventeen year old boy to do. "Although apparently the hardware is too delicate for shop bought dust. The circuits melted and ignited all of the dust I had nearby. I need more refined stuff if I want to avoid another explosion."

"AI... what does the A stand for?" Jaune asked

"No Jaune, you're not allowed to quote that show if no one else watches it." evidently Pyrrha has had this conversation with him several times before.

Balthier turned back to the group, "anyway, like I said I'm going into Vale, anyone want to come with?"

Yang stood up to leave, "Sure. I need some stuff myself." Blake also agreed to come, as did Nora and Ren. One by one the rest of them decided that they too needed something from Vale.

"We'll make it a day out! We can grab a meal for lunch while we're there and go to see a film or something. We can grab whatever we need on the way back to Beacon." Ruby exclaimed.

Balthier couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. "If we meet by the fountain by eleven we should be in time for the airship to Vale." The others agreed to this and went their own way after finishing off their meal; there was still another couple of hours before they had to leave.

* * *

Teams JNPR and BCDA were forced to wait for a ten minute late team RWBY, although Balthier had expected this and purposely planned the meet up early. Eventually they got on the airship and enjoyed a comfortable journey down to the city. After making the mistake of believing Jaune when he said he knew the way, they finally found somewhere to eat. They were seated by the front window and Balthier had a perfect view of the street outside, and the alleyway on the other side of the road. This would turn out to have significant consequences in both the near and far future, but Balthier didn't know this, all he knew was that he could see Roman Torchwick, the criminal whose face was plastered all over the news nowadays, trading briefcases with some other man in sunglasses and a large black coat. The two men quickly shook hands and walked opposite directions away from the area. Balthier knew that it was already too late to see where they were heading or follow one of them, so he refrained from mentioning what he had seen to the others and tried to enjoy the moment. Soon they were on their way again, this time towards the cinema where apparently there was a new X-Ray and Vav film showing. Both Nora and Ruby were dying to see it and none of the others wanted to disagree with either of them, unless they wanted their legs broken. On the way, Balthier spotted a certain black coated individual with sunglasses and a briefcase going down another alley and entering a derelict house that looked like it ought to be demolished before it fell off its own accord. Cloud realised that Balthier had stopped and turned around.

"Hey mate! You coming?"

"You guys go on ahead. I think I left my scroll back in the diner."

The others carried on while Balthier walked behind the corner. He waited until they were out of sight before crossing the road; no need to involve them, he was just going to take a quick look inside before calling the police. Balthier found the door in which the man had entered and knelt down to see through the keyhole. He couldn't make out much, but he could see the man in black and two others. Deciding that he had already risked too much, Balthier stood up to leave, only to be stopped by a mean looking man with a scar going right across his left eye, effectively blinding it.

"Not so fast kid, I don't think you're going anywhere."

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**Yay cliffhangers! I think I may do more of them in the future, it certainly gives me an idea as to how I should start the next chapter.**

**Sorry that this is a lot shorter than the last chapter; I had immense writer's block all week and I found some kind of inspiration this weekend and managed to write three quarters of it in an afternoon. **

**Again, please review as it's the only way I can get better and tell me whether or not you like where I'm going with OCxYang. To be honest I'll probably disregard what you say unless there's a public outcry because I actually kinda like it.**

**I'll be introducing the villains of this story in the next chapter if you couldn't already tell and I'm already hyped to write it.**

**Ta ta for now!**


	5. Captured

**Disclaimer**** \- RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth and the god that is Monty Oum.**

**Here's the fifth chapter guys; I actually really enjoyed writing this one in particular so I hope you enjoy reading it!**

**Again I can't ask for reviews enough, they're the only way I can really improve.**

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"Not so fast kid, I don't think you're going anywhere."

The man had a light blue balaclava covering his face so that only the top half of his head was showing. He also wore navy style camouflaged trousers and a plain blue jumper that emphasised animosity, although this effect was ruined by his scar and choice in headwear. The bandolier draped across his body and belt of knives didn't help either. He seemed to find it necessary to carry as many blades on his body as possible. What grabbed Balthier's attention however, was the knife with a wicked edge currently being held at his throat.

"What you're going to do kiddo, is open that door you were peeking through a second ago and present yourself to my friends inside."

Even though Balthier couldn't see the man's mouth, he could tell he had a wide, shit eating grin plastered across it. Balthier turned around and opened the door slowly, crossing the threshold. He knew the other man had the upper hand; the knife would do horrible things to his neck long before he even reached the sword on his back. The two strangers inside turned to look at the intruder and the man in black whom Balthier had been following raised a quizzical eyebrow at the man in blue behind him.

"I caught the kid trying to look through the keyhole. Idiot's seen too many shitty spy movies."

His question answered, he pointed to a random chair and told the knife wielder to tie Balthier to a chair. The man who had captured him took Tournesol from its sheath on Balthier's back and threw it unceremoniously into the corner. Now that he had a better view, Balthier saw that underneath the thick coat he wore an expensive and probably custom-made suit and the shades were a designer brand of some kind. The hat that he had worn before was now on the table and Balthier could see that his hair was slightly grey, suggesting that he was in his mid forties. Everything about this man reeked of power and money; whatever he did, it paid well. Emblazoned on the breast pocket of his suit was what looked like a double-headed eagle; one head looked towards the left and the other the right, although only the one facing his left had an eye. Balthier struggled against his bonds, hoping that the man who tied him down hadn't done so properly, but to no avail. It was probably good that they weren't loose, if he had gotten free, he would have been gutted immediately without any way to defend himself. Balthier could only assume that the man in black that now sat in front of him was the leader. He was silent, staring at Balthier as if he were some previously unknown kind of animal. After several minutes of nothing happening Balthier decided that he was in no immediate danger from the leader and turned his head to examine the other two minions. Now that the keyhole was out of the way, he could see that the two men were like a circus act; one was well over six feet tall, almost seven, and the other was about the same size as Ruby. Balthier would have laughed if his life wasn't at stake. The larger man wore a green shirt that looked as if it were a muscle flex away from being on the floor in tatters and his trousers didn't look all that much better. At his belt hung a large, one-handed war hammer that looked like it could smash skulls with a single blow, and probably has done so already. He had a military style haircut and muscles that would put Cardin to shame. Several teeth were missing from his mouth and he had scars all over his face and arms; all of his features screamed 'tough guy.'

The smaller man was in stark contrast to the behemoth of a person next to him. He was wiry in stature and was constantly twitching or fidgeting with the crossbow he held in his hands; playing with the sights or simply dry-firing it. It was a modernised crossbow in that it had proper sights and a revolving chamber connected to a box magazine, allowing rapid semi-auto fire. He wore a bright yellow jacket with a black stripe down the back in the shape of a lightning bolt. This motif was matched by his hair that was standing up on end and was frayed beyond all help a comb could offer.

A full ten minutes passed before a single word spoken, the others obviously waiting for their master to act first. Finally he spoke after a long, contemplative silence;

"What are we going to do with you, hmm?"

The others judged it safe to speak now that their leader had finished his thoughts and gave their ideas, mostly involving Balthier's gruesome demise.

"No!" The leader snapped. "I don't kill children, and neither will any of you while I'm in charge." He turned to look at Balthier who still hadn't said a word. "What do you call yourself kid?" Balthier stayed silent, not wanting to tell this criminal anything. The older man sighed. "I call myself Shadow, the giant's Boulder, and the guy next to him is Bolt. That's Frosty over there by the door. Names are meaningless, especially in my line of work; one day I'm Cobalt, the next I'm Ferrous. Names come and go, their only purpose is to avoid confusion when talking to groups of people and, for that purpose, kid works just fine. So unless you enjoy being belittled, I suggest you give me a name."

Balthier concluded that there was no harm in telling him his name, anything was better than 'kid.'

"Balthier. What do you want with me?"

Shadow laughed at his question, "I don't want anything to do with you. I'd like it very much if you left here and never spoke a word of what transpired. The only problem is that no matter what you say, we can't guarantee that'll happen."

"So what are you going to do then?" He didn't show it, but Balthier was afraid. He didn't know what this man was capable of; he said he wouldn't kill him, but his friends hadn't said anything of the sort yet.

"I don't know, probably leave you unconscious in the street somewhere, or maybe keep you locked up and ransom you. If that sword in the corner is anything to go by; you're a hunter, and therefore worth a lot of money." Suddenly Shadow looked very curious again. "What I do want to know is how did you know to follow me? As far as you know I could have been some businessman checking out an old building to see if it could be repaired or something similarly innocent."

"Businessmen don't make deals with wanted criminals."

Shadow grinned again. "Well, the honest ones don't. I told Torchwick not to gain too much notoriety; it puts off business for this exact reason. Ah well, can't be helped now that he's the cheapest source of dust." Shadow stood up, having made up his mind. "Bolt, get the zip ties. We're taking him to-"

"Boss!" Frosty called from the window. "There's about ten more kids his age surrounding the place. I think his friends have come to get him."

"In that case we leave now. I don't have time for a full-scale battle at the moment." Shadow ordered the group to exit the back door and leave Balthier where he was. He would've made it away without a problem too, if a figure didn't materialise in front of him.

Cloud held his sword to the chest of a currently unarmed Shadow. "You really should notice when a window opens of its own accord." He joked without the slightest hint of humour in his voice.

"Who said I didn't?" Shadow replied in a similar tone. He flared his powerful aura and waved his hand to the side. Balthier had never seen such awesome power before; this guy was stronger than anyone he had met before. Suddenly some black..._ stuff _appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Cloud, knocking him into the wall. Calmly, Shadow opened the door and turned to give one last message.

"I don't kill kids, but I do kill those foolish enough to fight me if I have to. Pray you never meet me again."

Point made, he left and his lackeys followed him out of the back door. Without warning, the door leading to the alley shattered into splinters and Basch came charging in, weapon drawn. He looked around and saw Cloud lying against the wall, struggling to get up, and Balthier tied to a chair. He ran to Balthier and cut the ropes with his sword before going over to Cloud to lift him to his feet. More that he was free, Balthier went to the corner to pick up Tournesol and rushed to the only door remaining intact.

"Quickly! We need to catch up with them!"

Basch shook his head, he had Cloud's arm around his shoulders as, from the looks of it, Cloud couldn't hope to stand up on his own. His face was devoid of all colour and his arm was lightly wrapped around his chest where he had been struck, as if he wanted to protect the area but was too afraid to touch it. His breathing was ragged and weak, like a broken vacuum cleaner, and he was clinging to Basch with the little strength he had left to avoid collapsing to the floor. He was a ghost, a dead man walking and everyone in the room knew it.

"Cloud's not going anywhere. Whatever hit him, hit him hard and he needs help now." Basch exclaimed, worry clearly evident in his voice. If Basch didn't want to go after the bad guys, then Cloud had to be in really bad shape. Balthier nodded and took Cloud's remaining arm and swung it round his shoulders.

"Take him outside and lay him down." As they carried him outside Balthier saw the others, their relieved smiles after seeing Balthier were immediately wiped away after seeing the state Cloud was in. Balthier took charge, giving orders to his team.

"Hope, call an ambulance now. He's hurt bad. Tell them I think he's got broken ribs and might be bleeding internally."

Gone was Balthier, the boy who loves to play jokes and mess with everyone. He was a different person when he took charge; the type of leader who wouldn't dare let one of his teammates die. Hope took out his scroll and did as he was told while Basch and Balthier laid Cloud down in front of the house.

"Five minutes!" Hope called out. It was going to be a long wait.

* * *

If one could only sense the atmosphere in the waiting room; they would have thought it was a morgue. Hope tinkered with one of the many creations he carried around with him, simply happy with something to distract him from reality for even a short while. Basch was pacing back and forth across the room, unable to sit still, while Balthier watched him unconsciously, his mind elsewhere entirely.

Balthier blamed himself.

He knew it was stupid and that no one could have known how strong the stranger was, but he did so anyway. If he hadn't gone for a closer look or even just called in his friends for backup, Cloud would be fine. When the ambulance arrived, Cloud had just lost consciousness. The paramedics checked his pulse and carried him into the ambulance once they were sure he was breathing. They were lucky that the hospital was so close because as soon as Cloud got into A&amp;E, he stopped breathing. It took all of Balthier's self-control to not push past the wall of doctors and all of his strength to stop Basch doing so. The hospital staff ushered the teens into a waiting room nearby and promptly forgot about them. They had waited anxiously for the last twenty minutes without a word from anyone. Balthier slowly drifted back to reality and looked around for the first time. He hated hospitals; they were too clean, too unnatural. In Balthier's experience nothing in life was this safe except that which was trying to delude you.

_It's all your fault._

Everyone would tell him differently, the doctors, his friends, even Cloud himself. But Balthier knew the truth; it gnawed away at the back of his mind, all through the journey and the long wait afterwards. The guilt was threatening to consume him, but he couldn't let it. Not here. Not yet.

Balthier realised who he was watching and what he was doing, and as soon as he was conscious of it, he couldn't ignore it.

"Basch calm down and sit. You're not helping anyone by pacing like that and frankly, it's annoying."

Basch turned to him gave him a scathing look that would have made anyone else in any other situation flinch. "Calm down?! I don't understand how you can just sit there and do nothing. For all we know he's dead and the doctors can't be fucked to tell us."

It was Balthier's turn to glare at Basch. "If the doctors couldn't stabilise him after we left, then he would have died twenty minutes ago. They're probably x-raying him now. He's _not _dead. He can't be dead." The last sentence was barely more than a whisper, and meant more for himself than for Basch.

"Broken ribs don't take their time. Either they puncture something important and the person dies quickly, or they don't and they're left in a lot of pain." Hope piped up from the corner.

Basch rounded on him, ready to unleash his wrath upon the genius before realising the pointlessness of his actions. He just deflated, looking defeated like a kicked puppy. Basch staggered over to a chair and collapsed into it, suddenly looking exhausted. The adrenalin rush had left him, leading behind the broken shell that Balthier now saw. His voice cracked as he spoke; "he just looked so pale. There's got to be more to it than damaged ribs."

None of them had a reply to that, so they stayed silent. It was heartbreaking to see someone usually so strong and resilient break down into such a mess. Balthier turned to the only one in the room who hadn't said anything yet. As soon as Yang heard there was space for four people on the ambulance, she told the rest of team RWBY to wait for her at Beacon and leapt into the back of it. At the time the three members of BCDA didn't notice, nor did they care, but now Balthier was curious.

"Why did you come? You don't know him that well." He asked quiet enough so that the others didn't overhear.

She grimaced, pity clear in her eyes. "You would've come if it were Ruby or me. Besides, if anyone knows how to help people deal with grief, it's me after what happened to Ruby's mother." She stared directly into his eyes, as if she were looking into his soul and reading his mind. "I can tell you're blaming yourself. Don't deny it! It's obvious." She stopped him just as he was about to open his mouth. "Even if it was your fault, wallowing in self-pity won't do anyone any good, least of all yourself. Don't dwell on it; what's done is done and it can't be changed. Look ahead and think about how you can help him, not how you could've helped him."

Balthier was taken aback: this was a far cry from the Yang he recognised. Yang was always grinning mischievously and getting herself into all kinds of trouble. This person more like a wise sage than the Yang he knew. Unable to hold her gaze any longer, Balthier turned his head to stare into his lap. Once again deep in thought, he didn't notice the hand that grasped his tight and comfortingly.

A further ten minutes passed without any sign of a doctor or nurse or _anyone_. Finally a short, serious man wearing a clean white coat and a heavy frown walked in. As soon as he knew he had their attention he gave them the news.

"He's alive, barely, and won't be getting out of bed anytime soon."

A wave of relief washed over the room as soon as the doctor spoke, but somehow his frown furrowed even further, if that were possible.

"However, what I would like to know is how he got injured so badly outside of your academy, and in Vale no less!"

Balthier spoke up before any of the others had the chance. "He was knocked over by a car; he wasn't looking where he was going."

The doctor's eyebrow raised. "Really? A hunter in training was knocked unconscious by a car? In a ten miles per hour area?" Balthier didn't know why he lied, it just seemed like the right thing to do. "Don't mess with me kid, I'm the one who performed surgery on your friend. Cars crashes that cause this much damage don't threaten a person's life, and they certainly don't leave black..." He struggled for the right word. "...ooze clinging to your heart and lungs. Now tell me what happened."

Balthier looked at his feet, too ashamed to look at the doctor. "I think it was his semblance. I was captured and Cloud tried to rescue me. In the middle of it, this man conjured up some kind of weapon that slammed into Cloud. After they got away, we realised Cloud was hurt badly and here we are."

"There's a reason he calls himself Shadow." Balthier looked up, surprised that he already knew the man's name. "He can manipulate darkness, solidify it, make it do whatever he wants. One of his favourite tricks is to suck out a person's life with it. Do that to someone already weak from injuries and it's suddenly a very life threatening combo." The doctor sighed and stared up blankly, as if he were reminiscing. "I was a trainee back when he first terrorised Vale; everyday I saw someone else with similar ailments to your friend. He was striking randomly and at the time no one knew what was causing it until he was caught in the act a month after it started. He fled the city as soon as he was discovered; I don't think he wanted to have to fight the entire Vale PD. He was only young, probably no older than you lot when he left." The doctor came back to earth from his reverie and looked at Balthier. "Now that he's back we're going to have to be ready for whatever he plans to do." He reverted back to his neural state of frowning at the world. "Mr Storm is sedated right now and he needs all the rest he can get. I'm not allowing any visitors until at least Wednesday, now run along. I'll be sure to inform your school of the situation, your headmaster's gotten plenty of messages from us in the past so I'm sure another won't hurt."

* * *

The airship back to Beacon was silent. The atmosphere was so tense you could cut it with a knife. Hope felt the need to break the silence.

"Don't worry; he's in good hands."

"How do you know?" Basch asked

"You mean you didn't notice? That's Dr DuFresne; ex hunter turned medic. They call him the Mad Doc, or just Doc to his face."

Balthier snorted. "The fact that the 'Mad Doc' is taking care of my partner doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence."

"Don't worry, he's good at what he does. Like I said; Cloud's in good hands."

* * *

"Yang! Wait up!" The blond turned around to see Hope quietly closing the door to his dorm.

"Yeah Hope? What do you need?" She was about to go back to her room after saying goodbye to what remained of BCDA when the boy in yellow stopped her.

He gave her an evil grin, similar to the one she made when she was about to cause trouble. "When were you planning to tell him?"

"Tell who what? What are you going on about?"

"Oh come on! It's so obvious, especially after I saw the two of you at the hospital. Even Basch would've been able to figure it out if he didn't have his mind on other things."

"Figure what out? You're not making any sense Hope."

Hope just groaned. "The two of you are worse than Weiss and Ruby. Or you're just excellent liars."

"I still have no idea what you're talking about."

I'm sure you don't. Goodnight." With that he returned to his room and left a bewildered Yang staring at his door, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Eventually she just shrugged and continued to wander back to her dorm.

* * *

**How was that? I apologise if my depiction of Cloud's injuries are unrealistic but you can just blame that on Shadow.**

**Speaking of Shadow; kudos to my little brother for giving me the idea for his name, he knows what I'm talking about!**

**In case anyone didn't realise, the doctor's name is a reference to a certain web series about space soldiers and idiots that like to think they're soldiers. I'm told that what I originally thought was spelled Dufrain is in fact spelled DuFresne.**

**Finally I just wanted to say I've decided that OCxYang is definitely going to be a thing with White Rose mentioned or implied. With that done, I'll see you in the next chapter!  
**


	6. Combat Training

**Disclaimer**** \- I do not own RWBY, RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth**

**New chapter! Yay!**

**Please review; I'd love it if you did and they're the only way I can get better. Without any further ado, let the tale continue:**

* * *

_Okay Balthier; breathe slowly, get your stance right, remember her semblance and get yours ready, and you should get out of this relatively unscathed._

Easier said than done, Balthier realised when his enemy came at him.

* * *

_Earlier that morning:_

"Wake up sleepyheads! You get no excuses anymore Cloud."

It had been a month since Shadow tied up Balthier and injured Cloud. Despite Dr Dufresne predicting at least two months before he would be combat ready, Cloud made remarkable progress and was cleared for normal service after only three weeks out of the hospital, and not a day too late either.

"Anyone else fuckin' pumped? I've been waiting for this since we started." Basch was back to normal after the brief bout of depression he suffered from while Cloud was recovering. Apparently he hadn't even considered the possibility that any one of them would be injured, let alone killed. What happened was a reality check for him and it hit him hard.

Hope groaned as he crawled out of his bed. "Apparently not pumped enough to get up earlier like you said you would." He turned to Balthier with that mischievous grin of his. "How was your run? Was Yang with you again?"

Balthier sighed as he opened the door to the bathroom. "One day you're going to tell me how you found out I run with her even though you're always asleep when I go out."

"But it is not this day." Hope replied, his smile never wavering.

* * *

The dining hall was packed today with excited first year students eagerly chatting about what was to come later that day. Balthier found his friends usual spot and sat down with them, correctly guessing what they were talking about.

"So, any idea who you're going up against first?" Balthier asked the group in general.

Yang gave a few jabs at the air in front of her. "Don't know, don't care. I'm just happy that they're finally letting us fight actual people instead of those useless training dummies."

"Does anyone know why they don't let us spar in the first couple of months?" Blake inquired.

"Something stupid like we can't be trusted to not hurt each other until we've done enough theory. Because apparently they're OK with throwing us in a forest infested with grimm and letting us get mauled by ursai, but Monty forbid one of us breaks another's leg!" Hope answered as he sat down next to Balthier, the rest of their team in tow.

"In all fairness though, you can't sue an ursa. There's probably some kind of rule or law that states that it's not the school's fault after a certain amount of training." Weiss suggested, ever the logical one.

The vast majority of the student body agreed with Yang however, and didn't care who they were fighting or why they couldn't before, only that they could now and were willing to make the most of it. The three teams finished their meal and headed for their first lesson of the day. Balthier would like to say his team was in the training hall first thing, but they weren't. In fact they were there for the last lesson of the day, but at least it was better than it was for some other students; some of them wouldn't get a taste of proper combat until tomorrow, or even later.

* * *

Grimm studies - boring

History - boring

Tactics - mildly interesting

Leadership training - yawn!

But combat training, that's the one lesson that every student wants to go to. Balthier and his team were the first ones there but others quickly started trickling in after them. Teams RWBY and JNPR found them and the group of friends began chatting while waiting for Professor Goodwitch. When she appeared, the huntress told them the new rules of they were about to do. Long story short: don't try to give your opponent an injury that'll take more than a week to recover from.

With that out of the way the professor proceeded to match up opponents.

"I think for the first match, why don't we put the two students with the best scores in the entrance exam together. Miss Nikos, Miss Schnee, please come up to the stage."

Both girls were wary as they climbed the stairs up to the stage, clearly apprehensive of being first, but also eager to size each other up. This was the first time either of them had seen the other fight since the Emerald Forest and both wanted to get an idea of how strong their closest rival was. Weapons drawn, they started circling each other; waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. When it was clear that Pyrrha wasn't going to make a mistake and leave an opening this early in the fight, Weiss conjured up a glyph beneath her that propelled the fencer directly at the Spartan. Although there was almost no time to react, Pyrrha swiftly leapt to the side, allowing Weiss to fly right past her.

Balthier noticed something odd about that last movement; it just seemed unnatural. There was no way Pyrrha could have gotten completely out of the way in the time she had before Weiss was upon her, and it wasn't like Weiss to miss like that.

"You see that?" Hope murmured next to him.

"Yeah. Seems like there's more to this 'invincible girl' than meets the eye." Cloud whispered back.

Balthier activated his semblance; the action was too fast and too far away to see what was really going on with the make eye. He saw Weiss recover rapidly and meet Pyrrha's counter charge. She was immediately forced into a defensive strategy as her opponent unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks upon the heiress. Weiss had almost zero opportunities to turn the tables and was forced to deliver a rather unladylike kick to give her the seconds she needed to escape. She created another glyph and used it to force herself backwards across the stage. Both warriors used the brief respite to reevaluate their options. When they came together again, Balthier noticed that Weiss was focusing on Pyrrha's right side; the side opposite her shield. The Spartan warrior was finding it more and more difficult to parry and block Weiss' attacks; in a duel like this, a rapier has every advantage. All of a sudden, it looked like Weiss missed her target and stumbled forward, temporarily losing her footing. This was all Pyrrha needed to end the fight. The heiress had her feet taken out from under her and looked up to see a sword at her throat. Goodwitch called the fight in Pyrrha's favour and the two girls returned to the crowd of students.

The others were muttering among themselves about the 'invincible girl' and how not even Weiss could land a solid blow. But Balthier knew the truth; he saw the truth.

"She moved Weiss' blade at the last second." He explained quietly.

"Without touching it? So she's got telepathy then." Hope concluded.

Cloud shook his head, "I don't think so. She didn't stop Weiss' boot earlier in the fight."

Hope simply shrugged at this thought, "I don't know, maybe she didn't want to make it obvious. It doesn't matter; it's just something to bear in mind if we go up against her."

Basch suddenly punched Balthier in the shoulder, not hard enough to cause pain, but enough to get his attention. "You're up mate."

Balthier looked up to the stage and saw the huntress glaring at him, "if you would be kind enough to stop chatting and get up here, I would greatly appreciate it."

He apologised profusely to the professor and ran up the steps to face his opponent.

_Well, that scythe is certainly more scary when you know it's about to try to get very intimate with you. _Balthier thought to himself.

Standing on the other side of the stage was none other than the cookie enthusiast herself. Goodwitch started the match and once again the combatants began by searching each other, looking for an opening.

_Okay Balthier; breathe slowly, get your stance right, remember her semblance and get yours ready, and you should get out of this relatively unscathed._

Easier said than done, Balthier realised when his enemy came at him. Ruby pointed her scythe to the rear and fired, propelling herself towards Balthier at incredible speeds. She came to a halt next to him and swung Crescent Rose round to hit him in the gut. Balthier reacted quickly by swinging Tournesol in an underhand arc; catching the blade of her scythe and changed its trajectory to over his head and into the ground behind him. Ruby pulled her weapon free and leapt back, ready to attack once more. While he had the chance, Balthier activated his semblance, making sure he was ready for her next move.

Ruby's back stiffened and she looked at Balthier worried. "Are your eyes meant to do that?"

Balthier simply grinned. "Yep, and I'd tell you not to worry if it weren't for the fact that you really, really should."

She just shrugged and disappeared in a cloud of rose petals. At least, it looked like she disappeared to the naked eye. Balthier saw exactly where she went and predicted perfectly where she would end up. He lifted and brought down his greatsword directly behind him. Ruby only just managed to block in time, the impact bringing her to one knee. She pushed Balthier away and jumped up, showing surprising strength, before renewing her efforts. Balthier backed off, deftly avoiding the attacks by using his semblance. Unfortunately for him, her scythe was slightly longer than Tournesol and kept him far enough back that he couldn't retaliate. Balthier realised that this fight was going to have to end soon if he was going to win; being able to see Ruby's speed was a far cry from keeping up with it. Suddenly Balthier dove forward and took a blow to his shoulder. Even with his aura and armour taking most of the hit, it hurt a lot, but it allowed Balthier to deliver a much harder hitting blow in return. With her scythe elsewhere, Balthier had no opposition as he drove the pommel of his sword into Ruby's solar plexus. He knocked her a few feet into the air and she fell to her knees as soon as she landed some distance away, clutching her stomach and desperately trying to get her breath back.

Balthier looked to the professor to see if she would call the match, but she shook her head and pointed to his opponent. He turned around and saw Ruby slowly climbing to her feet and already almost ready to go again. The knight was impressed; he wasn't an incredibly skilled fighter, but he was extremely strong and he made the few hits he could land count. Few of his opponents could withstand a single direct hit. This little girl wasn't as fragile as she first appeared. Once more she used her semblance to rush to him and again he blocked the attack. Again and again she sped across the stage, striking at Balthier from all sides. The longer it went on the more sluggish he got; the combat was tiring him and Ruby showed no signs of slowing down. The stalemate they were locked in had to end at some point: Something had to give. In the end, it was Balthier; he couldn't quite get out of the way of one of the scythe wielder's slashes and the knight took a hit to the back of his leg. Although his aura took most of the damage, he was still brought to one knee, and from this position he only took more and more damage from the hooded girl. It wasn't long before his aura levels fell into the red and Professor Goodwitch was forced to declare Ruby the winner.

A sudden gust of wind signaled Ruby's appearance in front of Balthier. He looked up and saw an outstretched hand in his face. He took it and smiled at the victor.

"I'm impressed, I didn't think you could take a hit like that, let alone two."

"Another and I'd have been out of it. I didn't know it was possible to hit that hard."

"And I didn't know it was possible to move that fast; I guess both of us learned something today."

Ruby just blushed and accepted the compliment before returning to her team who were congratulating her victory. Balthier's team's comments on the other hand, were a little more jeering.

"Hah! I can't believe you got beat by a girl!" Basch in particular was milking the moment for all it was worth.

"Fuck off! You can hardly talk after what Weiss did to you when you copped a feel." Balthier retaliated.

"Hey! She doesn't count as a girl. She's more like half man, half shark."

Cloud laughed, "So you grabbed a guy's arse. Is there something you need to tell us Basch?"

The poor knight was at a loss for words while the others relentlessly and mercilessly ripped into him as punishment for his mistake. Basch may be a decent fighter, but in battle of words his weapon was certainly not very sharp.

Eventually the session ended; after each of the teenagers in the room had fought at least once. Cloud won his battle against CDNL's Russel almost effortlessly and, while he had a little against his opponent, Basch won his fight. Unfortunately Hope's combat style was far more suited to staying out of the fight and taking the most dangerous targets before they could do too much damage than it was to a one-on-one duel, resulting in his inevitable thrashing from Nora Valkyrie of JNPR. The team returned to their room after a tiring, but fulfilling day. Before sleep finally claimed Balthier, he lay there thinking. He wasn't disappointed or bitter that he lost, only determined to make sure it never happened again.

* * *

**Well that was fun. In case you were wondering, Balthier's fighting style is similar to Nightmare's from the Soul Calibur games (IV &amp; V at least, they're the only ones I've played) and has strength to match. **

**Sorry this chapter was slightly late but I had a severe case of writer's block and less time than usual to write it in. I blame my sister and her dance shows. **

**Thank you for reading, please review and I'll see you next time!**


	7. Hunters

**Disclaimer****\- I do not own RWBY, RWBY is the property of Roosterteeth**

**I'm back! Sorry about the hiatus but I had shitloads of coursework that needed doing and any free time I had leftover was spent sleeping. That being said, my experiences actually inspired the beginning of this chapter.**

**Anyhow, please review, I can't ask enough and enjoy.**

* * *

"Arghhhhh. Why do I have to do this now?"

"Because you didn't write a single sentence in the week you were given and if you don't hand it in tomorrow I get in shit as well."

"But everyone else is out having fun."

"Yeah. They've finished the essay. So have I in fact and I'd love to be out there with them, but instead I'm stuck here making sure you do what you're supposed to. So thanks for that."

Professor Port had asked for a short essay on the mating habits of ursai last Monday and wanted it back in a week: tomorrow. It was a relatively simple task and even Yang had managed to complete it by Friday, although not without copious amounts of giggling. The only person who hadn't done it was Basch, with the excuse that it was too easy and could be done later. Now he and Balthier were sitting in the library while their friends were out in Vale for the day.

"Just quit your whining and get in with it. You can use mine for inspiration, just don't copy it word for word or he'll know. Maybe if you're quick enough we can catch up with them."

A few hours of groaning and intense scribbling later, Balthier was snapped out of his daydream by a shy rabbit eared faunus. He could never understand why some people hated the faunus. Just because they've got ears or a tail doesn't make them below you or evil in some way. Maybe some people weren't intelligent enough to tell there was a difference between the White Fang and the rest of the faunus.

"What do you need Velvet?" Balthier asked after he got over his initial surprise.

"Um... Ozpin wants to see you and Cloud. He didn't say what it was about but there were two police officers in his office."

Balthier frowned. He had given his statement soon after Cloud's injury and the detectives seemed satisfied at the time, although the two of them didn't seem very competent. He glanced at Basch who was also frowning at Velvet.

"I want that essay done by the end of the day 'cause neither of us are getting any sleep until it is."

* * *

_Knock, knock_

"Come in."

Balthier walked into Ozpin's office and immediately got a sense of déjà vu. The last time he was there was in a similar situation. It was the day after Cloud was admitted into hospital and Balthier had been called into the office to meet the two most lazy detectives he had ever seen. They seemed like they couldn't wait to get back to wherever it was they went and put their feet up. They only asked for a vague description of the four men and of what had happened and seemed happy to leave it at that. Balthier left the room not fifteen minutes later utterly convinced that his report would end up forgotten on their desk or simply straight in the bin. The man standing next to Ozpin however, was a completely different story. He wore a simple shirt and tie and had short, black hair. He had what many people called "designer stubble" but all Balthier could ever see when a guy grew some was someone who hadn't bothered to shave in a while. The stranger also wore a pair of yellow shades despite being indoors. He looked young, in his early twenties, and ready, as if he was able to react to any situation and deal with it effectively. Already he was inspiring Balthier with more confidence than the previous detectives had.

"Ah, Balthier. Come in, we've been expecting you."

The newcomer strode over to Balthier and held out his hand. "Balthier Blut yes? I'm Detective Wash."

Balthier shook his hand. "Yeah, that's me. What's going on?"

"The detective here would like to ask you a few questions regarding Mr Storm's and your encounter with the criminal known as Shadow. Will Cloud be joining us sometime soon?" Ozpin answered from behind his desk.

"No, I'm afraid he's away in Vale at the moment. I could send him a message but he'll be at least an hour." Balthier didn't see any point in calling back his teammate just for him to say the same as he would.

"No, don't bother; I need to be back soon. Basically several people have been admitted into hospital with similar injuries to those your friend suffered and I've been assigned the case. I found your report on the desk of some incompetent and now I'm here to get a more complete idea of what happened."

The detective reached inside his shirt pocket and pulled something out.

"Are these the men who attacked you?"

In front of Balthier was three photos; each of a different man in different situations that ranged from buying a newspaper to walking down a street. The final piece of paper was a surprisingly accurate drawing of a man Balthier hoped never to see again.

"Yep, these are the men." Balthier pointed to one of the photos. "He calls himself Frosty." He pointed to another, "Boulder, and that's Bolt." Finally he looked at the drawing. "And that's Shadow, why don't you have a photo of him?"

"'Cause no ones been able to find him to take one yet." He started getting ready to leave. "Thank you, that's all I needed to know. Now that their identities have been confirmed we can arrest and interrogate them and find Shadow. Soon all this will be over."

Without another word he left the office and started to make his way back to the police department. Ozpin dismissed Balthier and the boy returned to his teammate in the library, whom he was surprised to find chatting to Velvet.

"You can't have finished yet Basch. Back to work."

Basch simply turned to him and grinned.

"That's what you think. Turns out having someone in their second year help you really speeds things along, especially if their pretty smart to boot."

Velvet immediately started blushing at the praise she was receiving and mumbled something about having to go before quickly rushing away. Both boys stared at her as she ran away, silently asking each other what just happened. Eventually Balthier just shrugged and smiled at Basch.

"Since you're finished, get your gear ready and meet me at the airship. I have an idea." He said.

"Why? What are we doing?" Basch asked.

"We're hunters aren't we? We're going hunting."

* * *

Hope and Cloud were already there waiting for the two of them when the airship came in to land. The reunited team BCDA greeted each other warmly before turning to Balthier, expecting his explanation.

He started off by asking "You got everything you need for a fight?"

All three of them nodded yes, after what happened to Cloud they rarely didn't bring their gear with them. Figuring they were ready, Balthier began.

"The police are on the verge of finding and arresting the arseholes who attacked Cloud and I, and I don't want that to happen until we've got our payback. You guys agree?"

Again they all nodded. Basch cracked a grin, relishing the fact he was about to get into a fight. Hope, however, had some reservations.

"Do you know where they've gone though, I don't think the police even know, let alone tell you."

Balthier faltered slightly but quickly regained his composure. "You're right; I don't know. But I know where we can start looking."

Once more Balthier stepped into the derelict building where he first met the men he was now hunting. He walked past the broken remains of the door that Basch smashed and towards the only other exit. What Balthier found on the other side of the door was a room almost identical to the last. The only differences between them being the rug in the middle of the room and that there were no doors leading to the outside. One of the windows was also wide open, the curtains flapping in the wind.

"What'd they do, climb out the window?" Basch asked no one in particular.

Hope walked in and immediately noticed the rug. "No. Something far more clichéd." He grabbed the corner and tugged. It was an old, moth-eaten thing but it still managed to hide the trapdoor pretty well. Once it was open Balthier could see that a ladder went down at least twenty metres before disappearing into the darkness. Hope rummaged around in his pouch and pulled out a light crystal. He flared his aura and activated the crystal, causing it to shine brightly, before dropping it down the shaft. Now they had light, the boys could see that the ladder reached the ground a couple of metres after the shadows engulfed them. One by one the team climbed down into the tunnel, ready for any kind of threat that may rear its head. Hope recovered his crystal and led the way down the tunnel. After a few steps the ground started to gently decline, leading the group deeper under the city.

After about ten minutes of walking without a single turn, the hunters-in-training finally found themselves at the edge of a large cavern. Inside they saw several men carrying boxes from a small truck and out of the cave through another tunnel opposite the intruders. They stealthily hid behind a small group of rocks and peered out, trying to pick out anyone they recognised or anything they could use to their advantage later. Suddenly a giant of a man with a hammer clipped to his belt swaggered into the cavern. He immediately started giving orders; telling the men to hurry up and threatening those he deemed were going too slowly.

"Whatever's in those crates must be important to them." Hope mused quietly.

"Well then, why don't we do something about them? Got anything in that goodie bag of yours that'll do the job Hope?"

The inventor grinned as he searched through the pouch he always carried into battle. "I've got something I've saved for just an occasion."

He pulled out a smooth round object about the size of a tennis ball and activated his aura. A red light began flashing on the device as Hope carefully rolled it towards the truck. As soon as it left his hand Hope began to count down from five. When he reached zero there was a huge explosion underneath the truck and it was soon engulfed in flames, preventing the men moving the crates from getting to the remaining boxes at the back. Balthier jumped out from cover and drew Tournesol, levelling it at his enemies.

"Boulder was it? You and I have some unfinished business. Where's your boss, where's Shadow?"

The behemoth looked almost disappointed. "Oh, it's just you kids again. I was expecting the police or something. Ya know, a challenge." He turned around and pointed at a group of his lackeys. "You four deal with these idiots, the rest of you get the stuff out of here. Best be done quickly if you don't want to be crushed." He then followed the remaining labourers out of the cavern.

Balthier attempted to follow him but one of the men Boulder had ordered stood in his way. Balthier hesitated long enough for the criminal to ensure his clean escape. He slammed his hammer into the roof of the tunnel he was escaping through, causing it to collapse behind him while he ran. Left with no other choice, the team prepared to fight their assailants.

Basch's opponent was the first to make his move; rushing at the swordsman with a sword of his own. Out of the corner of his eye Balthier saw Basch flare his aura and give his enemy a tremendous backhand with his shield, sending the attacker sailing through the air to land some feet in front of Basch. Boulder's subordinates looked visibly scared; obviously they were more used to common thievery than fighting well-trained opponents with the amount of aura the hunters obviously had. Balthier decided to end the fight quickly and rushed the man in front of him. He easily parried the clumsy attack given in defence and swung his sword down into the space between man's shoulder and his neck.

It took a few seconds for Balthier to realise what had just happened. Balthier looked at the sight in front of him; from the gaping hole that almost split the man in half, to the blood that covered his sword and hands, to the man's eyes where he could see the life slowly fading. If one looked, they could clearly see his internal organs, his bones; everything that should be inside that was now on the outside. Balthier didn't want to look, but he couldn't force his gaze away. Slowly he released his vice like grip of Tournesol, letting the blade slide free and clatter to the floor. He staggered backwards some steps and stared at the body as it slumped forward, still unable to tear his eyes away.

"W-w-why didn't he use his aura?" Balthier asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Aura? You think we have that shit!?" One of the two remaining men exclaimed, clearly terrified of the teenagers.

The other threw down his sword and his friend quickly followed suit. "Fuck this man, I'm not dying for this. Please don't kill me." He begged, seemingly on the verge of tears. Hope popped his NV goggles out of Nue and looked up, peering through the shadows and scanning the cave ceiling beyond.

"Guys! The roof's covered in bombs! That's what he meant when he said they need to be fast or they'll be crushed."

The two uninjured men looked at each other in shock, clearly unaware of the circumstances, and scrambled past the team and into the tunnel from which the intruders had come from.

"I think we ought to join them, guys!" Basch shouted. He began to run after the men fleeing in terror with Hope in tow behind him. Cloud was about to run when he noticed that Balthier was still staring at the body before him. The swordsman muttered angrily under his breath and sprinted up to his teammate. Cloud gave the boy a stinging slap across the face that almost knocked Balthier off of his feet.

"We don't have time for you to break down! You can have your crisis once we're safe but for now pull yourself together!" Cloud felt bad for treating him this way but there was no other option; the ceiling could come down at any moment.

Balthier looked at Cloud and opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by explosions overhead. Both reacted quickly; Balthier grabbed his sword and sprinted for the exit while rocks crashed into the ground all around Cloud and him. Suddenly a car fell and smashed into the ground in front of Balthier. He barely registered what had just happened, only using his momentum to vault the vehicle and leap the last few feet into the tunnel and safety. He landed on his shoulder and rolled upright, with Cloud a couple of seconds behind. Through some miracle neither of them were harmed in the cascade. Now that they were out of immediate danger both boys took a moment to take in the sight before them. Sunlight was now shining through gaps in the rocks above that were slowly growing. Equal parts concrete and stone were falling down with the occasional car or, Balthier was sickened to see, person. The two boys ran to catch up with their teammates who were already halfway up the ladder to the surface.

Balthier's fears were confirmed when he reached the street outside the rundown building. Police cars and ambulances screamed past, sirens howling, with pedestrians running in the opposite direction. The team followed the response units and were met with a scene from an apocalypse movie. A gaping hole had appeared in the city, easily a hundred metres in diameter and just as deep. The surrounding buildings had fallen down and into the ground and one could see what remained of the roads and houses deep down in the abyss. One of the police officers noticed the boys and waved to get their attention.

"You kids need to get out of here! The area's been closed off to all civilians until we're sure it won't get worse! You nee-" He finally saw their weapons and armour and realised their status. "Oh, sorry. You're Hunters, I didn't realise."

Balthier thought quickly; he need to get a message to the detective that questioned him earlier but he needed to do it anonymously. This was the perfect opportunity.

"Can you tell Detective Wash that it was Shadow. He'll know what it means."

With that he ran away, with his team quickly catching on, and disappeared into the fleeing crowd.

* * *

**So how was that?**

**My rationale in this chapter was that Balthier had never once thought he would have to fight people, let alone kill them and in all his experience his opponents have aura to cushion his blows; hence why he was so shocked at what he did.**

**Also don't worry; he's not getting over it that easy. Lets hope I can write mental trauma well.**

**Please review and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	8. Nightmares

**Disclaimer**** \- I do not own RWBY, all rights belong to Roosterteeth**

**Hey again!**

**I'm gonna start by stating that I'm not hugely proud of this chapter. I found it incredibly hard to write and that's part of the reason why this took so long to come out. I took longer to ensure that this chapter was up to the standard I usually have and even then I don't think I succeeded in that.**

**Anyway, please review and enjoy.**

* * *

_Running  
__Trees  
__Fear  
__Running  
__Fear  
__Fear!_

A dark figure in a clearing lit by moonlight stopped Balthier in his tracks. He had found the man crouched over the bodies of his teammates and now it was his turn. Balthier didn't have his sword and had no other way to defend himself, but that didn't matter once the man turned around. Embedded in his stomach was Balthier's sword, his blood leaking out and his guts doing their best to escape. But what scared Balthier the most, was that he recognised the man. How could he possibly forget that face?

"You... Murdered... Me..." The man rasped as he walked towards Balthier.

"No, no. I didn't mean to!" Balthier panicked, stumbling backwards. Eventually his back met a tree and he could retreat no further. As the pale man continued to advance Balthier fell to his knees, almost sobbing.

"I'm sorry. You weren't meant to die. You weren't meant to die." He said, over and over.

"It's... Too late... For that..." It was the last thing Balthier heard before the dead man dived forward and he felt teeth tearing into his neck...

... And he woke up with a start. Balthier looked around in a panic, seeking his assailant. He relaxed once he realised where he was and struggled to get his breathing under control. Balthier was drenched in sweat, but that had become normal in the past week since the nightmares began. He grabbed his scroll to check the time: 3:37 in the morning. Too early to do anything but sleep and that was the one thing Balthier couldn't do. Resigning himself to another sleepless night Balthier lay in bed, listening to the silence of the darkness.

* * *

Balthier checked his watch again; Yang was almost half an hour late, much later than usual.

"Fuck this." He muttered bitterly and decided to set off for his run without her. When he returned to his dorm, Balthier was surprised to find not only the rest of his team awake and waiting for him, but also team RWBY.

"What's going on guys? What happened?" Balthier asked tentatively, worried what the answer might be.

"That's exactly what we want to ask you. Something's been distracting you; you're not yourself, your grades are slipping and you barely say a word anymore. Whatever happened we can help, you just need to tell us what happened." Yang explained. Her eyes pleaded with Balthier, begging him to open up. But he couldn't let them know what he had done.

"I don't see how it's any of your business. My problems are mine to deal with." He stated coldly. The others were completely taken aback; he had never spoken like that to anyone, let alone his closest friends. The knight turned to leave the room and had the door halfway open before Yang slammed it shut once more with a bang.

"You're not leaving until you tell us what we want to know." She said threateningly. Her normally lilac eyes now had a small hint of red, warning Balthier that she was starting to get angry with him. Balthier stayed silent, drawing the two of them into a staring match. Weiss decided to interrupt

"Actually it is our business. If it's affecting your performance in class and in the field then the overall performance of our group will be affected as well." She stated logically. Balthier tore his eyes away from Yang to sneer at Weiss.

"Ever the practical one, aren't you Weiss." He said with venom. "You couldn't give two shits about my well-being, but the second your grades are affected suddenly you're concerned for me." Weiss was shocked, clearly not used to being spoken to in such a manner.

"Excuse me! How dare y-"

"Guys! Let's just calm down." Ruby interrupted. "We're just trying to help you Balthier. Tell us what we can do and we'll do it." The hooded girl resorted to her fabled puppy eyes usually reserved for when she wanted something from Weiss. Unfortunately, Balthier was in too foul a mood to be affected.

"There's nothing you can do. Trust me, there's nothing anyone can do short of putting me out of my misery." The last part was muttered and only Yang could hear due to her proximity. She was about to challenge him on it but Cloud chose that moment to break his silence.

"It's what happened last week in the cave, isn't it." It wasn't a query, it was hard fact and both warriors knew it.

"We. Are not. Talking about that." Balthier said slowly. He didn't need red eyes to show he was furious; his expression and voice were enough. However, Cloud continued regardless.

"It wasn't murder, it was self-defence. You have to realise that." The girls looked shocked and confused at what Cloud was saying. They looked among themselves, silently asking each other if what he was implying was true.

"Murder? What happened Balthier? What did you do?" Yang hesitantly asked after a long silence, although she wasn't certain she wanted an answer. Balthier stayed silent, unsure as to whether he should share what had been eating away at him all this time. Balthier hoped he came to the right decision and let his defences down. He deflated; his previously aggressive posture slumped down until he resembled a child whom had just been scolded by his mother. Slowly, but clearly, he began to tell the story of last week. He told them of their search in the house, of the discovery of the cave, and of what happened within. Balthier hesitated slightly when he reached the fight, but continued when he saw the concerned faces before him. He knew he was among friends and that they were only trying to help, his earlier reluctance to speak was simply a result of Balthier not wanting to trouble them.

"And since then I've been having nightmares that keep me up at night and stop me getting much sleep. Every night I see his face, and every night he rightly blames me and takes his revenge." Balthier's eyes had fallen to the floor during his speech, but now he looked up at them with his fury returning. "So please tell me how you're going to help. Can you revive the dead? Or are you suddenly able to magic my dreams away, because last time I checked, going into other people's minds was _my_ semblance." The room was silent. Neither team was able to come up with a response or a possible way to aid Balthier in his troubles. "That's what I thought." Balthier said, and made to leave again. This time Yang did not stop him, instead she made one last pleading request.

"Just because we can't help you right now, doesn't mean no one else can. Talk to a teacher or something; you don't have to tell them what you did, only ask what they would do. Please. If not for yourself, then for us." Balthier stopped long enough to hear her out, but left without a word as soon as she finished.

Balthier walked away with no clear destination in mind; Yang's advice was the only thing on his mind. He didn't want to go to the cafeteria and risk running into RWBY or his team so instead he wandered the school. Eventually he came to a decision; he couldn't be the first sane person to kill, there were plenty of soldiers and other people who've managed to defeat their demons and get on with their lives. He just needed to find out how they do it, and for that purpose there was only one person Balthier trusted and respected enough to ask.

* * *

There was still some time before lessons started for the day so Balthier wasn't surprised that there was no answer when he knocked. What did surprise him was the voice from behind.

"Looking for someone Mr Blut?" Balthier turned to face the headmaster, his ever-present coffee mug in hand.

"Actually I was looking for you sir." He replied nervously, unsure as to how this was going to end.

"Is that so? Well, would you like to join me for a walk. I tend to find it clears my mind before the day starts." Before Balthier could say anything the professor walked off, only stopping to give the troubled boy an expectant look before walking away again. Apparently Balthier was to be given no choice as to whether he wanted to accompany Ozpin or not.

Once the pair reached the gardens Ozpin broke the silence.

"So young man, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Balthier hesitated to answer. He could find no way to ask what he wanted without what he did being painstakingly obvious. When it became clear that he would not answer, Ozpin decided that the young hunter needed some encouragement.

"What a student does on his weekends is his own business, but when all his closest friends beg him to share what happened, perhaps he should." Balthier screeched to a halt. He couldn't understand how Ozpin knew about that, but at the same time the headmaster was right; he needed to tell someone who could help.

"Have you ever... killed someone?" Ozpin continued walking, forcing Balthier to follow once more. The headmaster considered his answer carefully, making sure the student heard exactly what he needed to.

"I don't know of a single hunter or huntress, who has lived long enough to reach a suitable age to retire, who hasn't killed at least once." This fact alone piqued Balthier's interest. If he wasn't an uncommon case, then there was hope. The headmaster continued, "I myself have been forced to do so on several occasions. However, that's not what you want to ask, is it?" Once again Balthier was surprised by the headmaster's apparent omniscience, although, perhaps he shouldn't be. After all, the man had been doing this job for years.

"How do you deal with it then? I've... Err, heard stories of people who've had nightmares and generally couldn't function after they've killed." Ozpin ignored the painfully obvious lie and answered his question bluntly.

"I don't. That's the simple answer. No one does. There are ways to detach oneself from the reality of what one is doing by using words like 'target' or 'enemy' instead of calling them people, or using 'neutralize' and 'eliminate' instead of kill, but at the end of the day everyone must come to terms with what they've done." Balthier furrowed his brow as he stared at the ground, uncertain as to how he should respond, so Ozpin continued.

"I tell myself that for each of the men I murdered, there's no other word for it, I did so in self-defence, that it was them or me. However in reality that's irrelevant; I ended a man's life and now I must live with the consequences." Their wandering had taken them to the fountain in front of the school. The headmaster found a bench and sat down, gesturing for Balthier to join him. Once Balthier had sat, Ozpin continued.

"No one can tell you how to come to terms with what you did, but you cannot allow it to eat away at you. Do not dwell on the past for it cannot be changed; you can't live in both the past and the present, for only madness lies that way. But do not simply forget about him, to do so would be disrespectful of his memory. Remember him and what you did, because this will help define who you are, but don't allow your memories to consume you." Ozpin slowly stood up, leaving the boy where he was. "Men with weaker wills than you have overcome this obstacle and stronger men have failed, I pray you can slay your demons because no one else can." With that, the headmaster walked back to his office and left Balthier alone with his advice.

* * *

The cafeteria was emptying by the time Balthier entered. He spotted his friends sitting round a table in gloomy silence. He immediately walked over to them and Yang stood up as soon as she noticed him. Before any of them had the chance to say anything Balthier wrapped Yang in a tight hug.

"Thanks." He whispered. "Thanks for the advice, taking to someone did help." Yang thanked the gods that her back was to the rest and that Balthier couldn't see her face because she was blushing furiously at this show of affection and she didn't know why. Balthier released his hold on Yang and addressed the group.

"Guys, I'm sorry. I've been a bastard." Cloud attempted to cut him off but Balthier would have none of it. "No, shut up. I've been working on this speech for far longer than I should have so you can get fucked if you think you're ruining it." The two teams relaxed; gone was the venomous tone he had earlier that morning, this was the Balthier they knew. "Despite what you say, I've been a bastard. I pushed away those closest to me when I should've been letting them help and for that I apologise. I wasn't myself earlier and I'm sorry for making you worry about me, I promise it won't happen again. From now on, no secrets.

"I wouldn't go that far." Hope said, briefly glancing at Blake; an action that no one but Blake herself caught. "Some of us need our little secrets."

"What are you hiding little man?" Yang grinned, misunderstanding Hope's meaning.

"First of all; I'm not that short. Secondly; I may or may not have some projects I'm working on that I would rather be a surprise." Hope gladly took the brunt of the group's inquisitiveness in order to hide Blake's secret.

"So... All's forgiven?" Balthier asked hesitantly.

"Nothin' to forgive mate." Basch stood up and gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"Speak for yourself!" Yang exclaimed. She quickly gave Balthier another, much harder punch to the shoulder. "That's for making us worry about you all week." She gave the other shoulder an equally painful punch. "And that's for shouting at us when we tried to help. Now you're forgiven."

"I guess I deserved that, didn't I." Balthier looked around for the last person he needed to make his peace with. "Where did Weiss disappear off to?"

"She said she was heading to class." Blake explained. "I thought I would wait until we were finished before mentioning that we are ridiculously late for Port's lecture."

Not for the first time, and certainly not the last, did Ozpin see a certain group of students running late for class. He just hoped the boy could make it through his challenge.

* * *

That night, not long after he fell asleep, Balthier had yet another dream. This time however, he did not run in fear. When he came across the bodies again and found the figure that had tormented him for so long, he was not afraid. The dead man shuffled forwards.

"You... Murdered... Me..." This time, instead of running away, Balthier calmly walked to the figure and grabbed the sword that was still impaled in the man's stomach.

"Yes, I did and for that I am truly sorry." Using one hand to hold the figure at bay, he pulled out Tournesol and levelled it at his attackers head. "But I can't let you kill me every night for the rest of my life. Please forgive me." Balthier swung down the sword.

And the dream ended. For the first time in weeks Balthier woke without thrashing around. For the first time in weeks Balthier wasn't completely drenched in sweat. And for the first time in weeks Balthier wasn't afraid to go back to sleep.

* * *

**Firstly, I do apologise if I wrote a bad portrayal of PTSD or something else of the like, but that's how I, an inexperienced young person who plans on joining the army in the near future, see it.**

**Secondly, I want to run an idea past you. Long story short, a spec ops soldier (probably SAS) somehow ends up on Remnant. Once there he helps the local police and army against the White Fang because most special forces are anti-terrorist specialists and (in my head) the police/army/hunters have no experience with terrorists and have no idea what to do. At the moment this story is pretty barebones but I'd like to see what you guys think of it.  
**

**Thanks again for reading, please review, and I'll see you next time.**


	9. The Stray

**Disclaimer**** \- RWBY is owned by Roosterteeth and Monty Oum**

**Once again I'm sorry that this was so late but chaos is my life these days and I don't get too much free time.**

**Anyway it's up now, so please read and review.**

* * *

"Three weeks ago the first of several bombings took place in Vale; killing ten and injuring many more. Since then four more bombs have gone off but with no culprit identifying themselves or suspected by the police, until almost five hours ago. A terrorist group calling themselves 'The Unity' came forward earlier today claiming responsibility for the bombings and stated that 'this was only the beginning' and that we 'should expect worse to come.' The speaker's voice was masked and his face was not shown and, as such, the police have been unable to identify this person. However, due to an anonymous tip the police do believe the mass murderer known only as Shadow to be in league with The Unity."

At that point Balthier stopped listening; they had nothing to add since the first time he heard the report when it was still breaking news. The high-ups were treating the developments as if they had made some kind of breakthrough, when in actual fact, all that happened was that they learnt the name of who they were dealing with, through no fault of their own. Although you couldn't blame them, the citizens of Vale were far too scared to even leave their homes these days. Anything they could do to lift spirits was a necessity. Balthier was worried. Very worried. The Unity had no reason to come forward; they could have easily continued their attacks without giving the police a target. Which meant one of two things: they wanted the police to have a target, or there was something to gain from coming forward that was more important than anonymity. Neither option could end well for Vale.

Suddenly Hope poked his head into the dorm, clearly looking for something.

"Ah! There you are Balthier. Can you come with me for a sec, I need to test something." Before Balthier could reply, the boy left in a cloud of smoke. If there was one thing that excited Hope more than anything else, it was the prospect of one of his inventions working. More often than not they did, but the tinkerer was always on the edge of his seat nevertheless. Hope was waiting impatiently at the end of the corridor when Balthier was ready to leave. The hunter in training was practically skipping with giddiness, he was like a small child on Christmas morning.

Hope led Balthier to the locker room where every student kept their combat gear.

"Go put your armour on and meet me in the training hall." Hope instructed.

Balthier laughed. "Sometimes I forget who the leader of this team is."

"Why don't you invent something, then you can get me to test it." Hope retorted. Balthier's armour was a gift from his father after he heard he was going to beacon. The suit covered his entire body, apart from his head as no helmet was included, and was designed to be bulky in order to absorb even the toughest of attacks, at the expense of ease of movement. However, Balthier's almost inhuman strength meant that this effect was essentially unnoticeable as he could wear the armour without being encumbered at all. The entire suit was dyed a dark crimson to match his sword and had the family crest on the chestplate; a single, red drop of blood. Apparently Balthier's ancestors were once a powerful family, but now nothing was left but Balthier, his father and the crest. As soon as he had the armour on Balthier could tell something was different, the gorget felt off and there was a strange new panel on his right forearm.

In the training hall Hope was at one of the stations setting up the dummies Balthier would be using to test whatever it was that Hope had made.

"Oi! What did you do to my armour?" Hope lifted his head from the console to see an irritated knight stroll over to him.

"It's a surprise. Push the far left button on your arm to find out." Balthier fiddled around with the recently added panel until he found it flipped up to reveal a series of small buttons. When he pushed the leftmost button as ordered, his sight immediately disappeared. Raising hands to his head, Balthier found that a helmet had miraculously been added to his armour.

"Was I meant to see out of this thing Hope? 'Cause you forgot the eyeholes." Hope said something in response but Balthier couldn't quite catch it due to the helmet muffling his voice. Suddenly he felt hands at the back of his neck and heard Hope raise his voice to be heard through the helmet.

"Tell me when the HUD appears... You do know what a HUD is right?"

Balthier felt almost offended. "Of course I know what a HUD is. I owned several PlaySchneetions when I was younger."

"Personally I prefer Y-Cubes but whatever floats your boat. There! You see anything?" Balthier nodded his head, taking in the new experience. As soon as Hope finished, a holographic display appeared in front of Balthier that showed him what his eyes should have been able to see.

"First things first; I need you to run a systems check by, how do I put this, intending to run one." Hope explained. Now that his helmet seemed to be working, Balthier could hear the genius' voice much more clearly. Presumably the sounds were being picked up and relayed to speakers inside the helmet.

"What do you mean 'intend'?" Balthier asked. He tried thinking variants of the phrase 'run systems check' but nothing was working.

"The helmet is connected to your brain, which means that it will detect anything you think. However, the only way it will work is if you control it like you would a limb. So in this case running the systems check and any other operation will be like moving a tail you've never had until now." Armed with this new information Balthier tried again. He concentrated in several different ways to no avail, until he realised there was a strange new feeling in his head; it was like discovering a muscle you never knew you had. By experimenting with this new feeling, Balthier managed to figure out how to perform the different functions of the helmet.

"Alright, I've got the check going. What now?" Balthier asked.

"That'll go for a few minutes so I can explain what your new addition can do." Hope then proceeded to list off the many features of his invention. "Basically, it's synced to your scroll, so you won't have to use that in battle at all, and it means that you'll be able to see all our aura levels, any messages we send, everything your scroll can do. On top of that, it's got zoom features, target identification and marking, an inventory of all the equipment we each are carrying at the time." He carried on for the next few minutes with Balthier listening intently. Hope went all out with this project; all the bells and whistles had been included and yet everything was incredibly useful.

They spent the next couple of hours testing all of the many features of the new addition to Balthier's arsenal. Once you got used to the weird method of control, it was actually quite easy and simple. The best part about it though, was the fact that it didn't affect his semblance much; he could still analyse the movements of his opponents despite his sight being relayed through a camera. Unfortunately, he found he couldn't enter someone's mind if they can't see his eyes, but it was a small price to pay for the sheer amount of advantages the helmet offered. Balthier was so focused on practising that he didn't even notice when night fell; he just looked up to see that the automatic lights were on and sunlight was no longer shining through the windows. Deciding enough was enough, Balthier and Hope packed up and prepared to leave, only to be stopped by a certain flustered looking, hooded scythe-wielder.

"Have you guys seen Blake?" Ruby asked, concern written all over her face.

"No, we've been in here all evening. Why? What happened?" Balthier answered, quickly growing worried.

"She and Weiss were having an argument and Blake said... It doesn't matter, but now she's run away and we can't find her!" It was obvious to the boys that she was hiding something, but neither decided to pry. Instead, Balthier began questioning her on the matter at hand.

"How long have you been looking and how many have been helping?" Ruby seemed almost confused at the question.

"We've been searching for almost an hour, and it's Yang, Weiss and I, team JNPR, and we found cloud Cloud and Basch a few minutes ago, so they're helping as well." Balthier took this information in and, although it he hated to do it, he told Ruby what she needed to hear.

"Then you need to stop looking." She looked like she was about to hit him for even suggesting such a thing but he continued before she could react.

"With all the people you've got looking, if Blake were still on campus we would have found her by now. That means she's somewhere in Vale, so we're not going to find her tonight." Ruby's eyes feel to the floor as soon as she heard it, but it was the truth and both of them knew it. Balthier lightly placed a finger under the fifteen-year-old's chin and lifted it, so that she could see his face. Her eyes were beginning to water.

"Tomorrow's Saturday, so we have all of the next two days to find her. And we _will_ find her. Even if we have to tear the city apart."

* * *

Balthier no longer felt as confident as he did last night. Despite what he had said, only sheer chance determined whether or not they found her and if Blake didn't want to be found then there wasn't a lot they could do about it. He only said what he did to help Ruby. She looked so distraught and panicked at the thought of losing one of her closest friends that Balthier just automatically went into protective older brother mode, promising anything to cheer her up and even convincing himself in the process. He was disillusioned now; that was the only thing wandering through his team's assigned streets searching for one person among thousands had achieved. After two hours of non-stop searching team BCDA decided to take a break in a nearby café, although none of them were in the mood for a drink. They say outside in gloomy silence, wondering if they would ever find Blake this way. Balthier stared out back into the street and back into the city, desperately trying to come up with a more efficient method of searching. Suddenly he saw something that had been staring him in the face for so long. He told the others to wait where they were and ran off.

The bell tower was one of the first buildings in Vale to have been built. Back in the day it was used to both keep a look out for attacking grimm or invaders and to signal to the guards when such a thing was needed. Now it was no longer needed and no longer useful in that respect as the town, and eventually city, had grown outwards around it and one could not see the city walls from the top anymore, let alone the surrounding wilderness. However, it still towered far above the city buildings and provided the perfect vantage point for Balthier's plan. He removed the rusty padlock with a swift, aura-fueled punch and sprinted up the many flights of stairs. From the top he could see far more of the city and thanks to Hope's new addition; if Blake was in the crowd below, he'll spot her.

Balthier activated his helmet once more and began scanning the crowds. The systems in his helmet automatically zoomed in on every person below and compared their faces with Balthier's memory, highlighting any face that he recognised. It quickly found the rest of his team, still waiting impatiently for his return, and a few other students who were around. He told the system to ignore them and continued scanning, but after ten minutes Balthier had made no headway. If Balthier had any amount of luck he would have found nothing, given up, gone home and Blake would have turned up the next day. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas in mind.

* * *

"What do you mean you see Shadow?!"

"I mean I'm looking at the bastard right now! What else could I mean?!" Balthier had contacted the others through their scrolls as soon as he confirmed it was indeed the mass murderer, but they were sceptical, especially Cloud.

"He doesn't go out in public anymore. No one's even kept him in sight long enough to take a picture and you say he's just waltzing around below you." While Balthier attempted to convince his teammates that he was telling the truth, he watched as Shadow slowly turned and raised his eyes to stare at the top of the bell tower, directly at Balthier.

_That's impossible, there's no way he can see me all the way up here. _Suddenly the man he was tracking turned back and began to walk away at a much faster pace, almost running.

"Guys, hurry up and get here. I think he saw me and he's getting away." Balthier ordered, going into "team leader mode."

"We're already at the base of the tower... against my better judgement." Cloud replied. Balthier ended the call and took a couple of steps back. By the time he climbed all the way down the stairs Shadow would be gone, no, he would have to take a shortcut. He rocketed forward and vaulted off the balcony, catapulting through the air towards the nearest rooftop. Only when he was already falling did the knight consider the possibility that the building he was heading for might not support the impact. Thankfully, he didn't smash through the roof and surprise whoever was inside, only a few tiles were removed and Balthier himself was unhurt. The impact jarred him somewhat but his aura took most of the damage. He sent a short message to his team, "try to keep up", and ran off after Shadow, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.

The pursuit had been easy. With Balthier and his computer-aided eyes following from the roofs and the rest of BCDA keeping Shadow at the edge of their vision on the ground; it was impossible to lose him. However, Shadow wasn't making it difficult. If he had indeed seen Balthier, then surely he would be trying to escape instead of the fast pace he was currently going at. Balthier realised that the pristine streets being prepared for the Vytal festival had given way to dirtier ones as they entered the shadier side of Vale. Eventually Shadow reached his destination; a nightclub from which Balthier could hear faint music emanating. The murderer entered and the team reunited out front. With a quick nod from each member they too entered the club.

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**Another cliffhanger! The action will really start picking up the pace in the next few chapters so that's always good.**

**Slightly unrelated, but I'm so happy the Vol. 2 soundtrack is out and I've been singing along to every song, especially All Our Days and the acoustic version of This Will Be the Day. **

**That's all from me, so I'll see you next time!**


	10. A Different Kind of Beat

**Disclaimer**** \- RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth, not I**

**I told myself I would have the next chapter up by Christmas and here it is you glorious people.**

**Not much to say this time except I hope you enjoy and please review.**

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The club was surprisingly empty, considering its prestige. If Balthier remembered correctly they were currently in the nightclub owned by the man known as Junior; the infamous informant. It was said that nothing happened in Vale without his knowing. Everyone went to him for information; criminals, vigilantes, even police, which is the only reason he wasn't already behind bars. It looked like the place had seen better days, however; one or two lights were missing, the shelves behind the bar were gone and all but one of the iconic glass supports had been replaced with concrete. Perhaps the changes had some correlation with the reduced crowd on the dance floor, but one could only guess. Or certainly wasn't because of the music Balthier figured. If there was one thing he loved almost as much as being a hunter, it was good music. The DJ was playing a remixed version of "I Burn", a song all over the charts these days and a song Balthier loved.

Slowly the group walked around the dance floor while keeping an eye out for both Shadow and any assailants. They noticed several thugs in suits, the trademark of those working for Junior, watching them warily. Some looked like they hated the boys already, whereas many others seemed almost afraid. There was no sign of Shadow, but the bearded man flanked by two menacing looking twin girls about the same age as the team, one dressed in red and the other in white and were presumably his bodyguards, that was heading directly towards them would soon prove troublesome.

" Leave! Now!" he ordered, pointing a finger at the door. "I don't serve minors and I _certainly _won't serve any of you lot from Beacon. So get out!" The team stopped and waited for who could only be Junior to get close before executing their unspoken plan.

"What are you? Deaf?! I said-" In a flash the boys interrupted him with the sudden appearance of their weapons at various throats. Cloud and Basch were threatening one of the girls each, Hope was at the ready with his boomerang, while Balthier pointed Tournesol at Junior himself. As his railgun began to charge up, Balthier spoke.

"Let's play a game. I ask you a question, you tell me an answer. One question, one answer. If I don't get the answer I want then we've got a problem, and if we've got a problem, you've got a problem. Understand?" Junior quickly nodded his head, clearly terrified for his life now that the tables were turned.

"We just saw a man in an expensive suit walk in here, people call him Shadow. Where is he?" Balthier asked.

Junior went pale immediately. "That psycho's here? In that case do what you want, I'm getting out of here." Balthier was about to question him further but Cloud interrupted.

"Balthier! Look around." Unbeknownst to the leader, Junior's thugs had been steadily surrounding the group. Each of them was armed with knives, axes and even the odd sword, and their facial expressions convinced Balthier that they would like nothing more than to see the boys' guts covering the floor. Suddenly, the girl in red took advantage of Balthier's temporary distraction by knocking aside Tournesol with claws that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Immediately Junior bolted like some terrified rabbit and when the boys attempted to chase after him, the girls blocked their path.

"Basch! Help Hope keep the other arseholes off us. Me and Cloud can take these two." Balthier ordered.

"Cloud and I!" Hope corrected while staring down said group of arseholes. Basch turned around a ran straight into the group of thugs, intending to cause as much chaos as physically possible, leaving the two remaining pairs of fighters to weigh up their respective opponents. Balthier knew neither would be a pushover, so he waited for the perfect opportunity. Slowly they began to circle, weapons at the ready. Neither girl was dropping their guard so Balthier tried some diversionary tactics.

Balthier dropped into a low bow, careful to keep his eyes on the girls. "'Twoud be ungentlemanly of me to fight a lady without knowing their name." He said in his poshest accent. The girl in white seemed to know what Balthier was attempting, yet still answered, her voice dripping with contempt and arrogance.

"This is Militia, I'm Melanie, and we're the ones who are gonna kill you." Despite her sister's confidence, Militia appeared confused and unsure how to react to Balthier's show. He could tell she was the weak link and this was confirmed when she was visibly shocked by Melanie's death threat. Balthier chose that moment to strike. He closed the distance between him and Militia in less than a second and surprised her with a fist to the stomach. The poor girl had no chance to avoid the attack and was subsequently launched backwards over ten feet. Melanie reacted much faster than her sister and already had her leg halfway up to kick Balthier's head before Militia had even hit the ground. She would have hit her mark too, if it weren't for Cloud's sweeping kick. As Melanie tumbled to the ground, Balthier stalked over to where Militia was getting to her feet. When she saw him getting closer, she readied her claws and prepared for the coming fight.

Balthier activated his semblance and once more Militia faltered as she saw Balthier's eyes suddenly change to their signature dark shade of crimson. This time, when Balthier attacked, she was ready. He slashed at her right, but she deftly parried and rushed forward inside his range. She countered with several quick slashes of her own that forced Balthier back, having to rely on his semblance to avoid the onslaught. Timing it perfectly, Balthier grabbed her wrist mid swing with his free, right hand. Still clutching her wrist, he twisted round so that his back was to her and slammed the pommel of his sword into her. He let go and clutched Tournesol in both hands, dealing the dazed girl a savage underarm strike. Once again, Militia was thrown backwards. Her aura protected her from the blade, but not the impact. The bodyguard flipped in the air and managed to land on her feet, immediately running back to continue the fight. This time Balthier went on the offensive; he unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks upon his opponent. Slashes came from all angles, there were feints left and right, she was only just able to keep up. The arms to which the claws she wielded were connected were not as strong as Balthier's, so every heavy blow she couldn't avoid and was forced to block knocked her back and left her open for a split second. Balthier tried to capitalise on this but she always managed to get her guard up at the last possible moment. The longer reach of the knight's weapon kept her back, stopping another counter attack, but also forcing the two into a stalemate. The fight was frustrating Balthier; every second wasted here meant Shadow was getting further and further away. He needed to end the fight now. He pretended to make a mistake and allowed Militia in close. He parried her attack and trapped the offending claw between his sword and the ground. He winced as he felt a sharp pain in his side; her other claw had found its mark and punched through both his aura and his armour. Balthier looked at his assailant's face and saw her smirk, obviously thinking he was low on aura, but in truth he was syphoning it for another purpose. Grabbing her hand and making sure he maintained eye contact, he used his semblance.

As soon as he entered her mind, Balthier felt her surprise and terror. He sensed the girl mentally recoil from his probing and try to push him out, although her weak attempts did little to remove him. He was lucky to be fighting Militia and not Melanie, the other twin seemed to be far more strong willed and resistant to his methods. As it was, it was simple to manipulate her mind. Balthier messed around with who the girl saw as friend or foe and, satisfied his job was done, released his semblance. The red dressed girl stood where she was for a second after he released her, dazed and a vacant look in her eyes. Eventually her eyes refocused on Cloud and Melanie, still locked in combat, and a determined expression came across her face. She sprinted over to the two and immediately lashed out at Melanie, taking the sister completely by surprise. Now that he was out of danger, Balthier took a moment to analyse the situation; Basch and Hope were surrounded by a pile of unconscious henchmen, Cloud was recovering from his surprise at Militia's sudden change of heart, and the dance floor was empty, clearly the fighting had scared everyone off. Balthier sheathed his sword and made his way to where the sisters were battling it out. Melanie was too busy with her sister to notice Balthier coming up behind, an error that would shortly prove extremely painful. He grabbed her shoulder and threw her around so that they were face to face. He then unleashed a powerful punch directly into the unprepared girl's face. He felt her nose break under his fist and saw her blood come spurting out. She was knocked clean out by his attack, and Militia seemed unfazed by what had just happened in front of her. Balthier released the girl from his control and she promptly crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Team BCDA regrouped in the aftermath of the battle and prepared to continue their search for Shadow. Balthier winced as the pain from the wound in his side came back with a vengeance; the adrenaline having worn off, but fought through it and headed over to the manager's office, intent on pulling out Junior and finding answers. Unfortunately, as soon as Balthier touched the doorknob, it exploded backwards and sent the knight sailing through the air. He slammed into the ground with enough force to knock the air out of his lungs and his wound flared, increasing the agony. When the stars in Balthier's vision disappeared, he looked up to see the murderer himself. Shadow was standing several feet in front of the teens, holding Junior by his neck and surrounded by a swirling mist of looked like black clouds. The dark suited man threw Junior onto the dance floor in front of the group where he stayed, unmoving. Calmly, Shadow spoke.

"You scared away all of Xiong's customers. Now my bomb won't have the same impact." The way he talked unsettled the boys, there was almost no emotion in his voice. He didn't seem annoyed at what they did, he only seemed indifferent to it all.

Balthier got to his feet and drew his sword once more. Nothing needed to be said, his message was clear; surrender or else...

Shadow's eyes slowly drifted across the hunters before him, weighing them up. Suddenly, the swirling mist surrounding Shadow began to drift towards his hands, solidifying. "So you wish to fight me. So be it." He said in his slow, calm manner. A shape began to form in his hands as more and more of the mist collected there. Eventually Shadow was left holding two small, one handed scythes, each with a razor edge. For a few seconds no one moved, until Basch rushed forwards intending to end the fight quickly.

And it did, but not with the result Basch was expecting. He opened up with a savage, backhanded slash that Shadow effortlessly dodged by bending over backwards. The murderer recovered quickly and used one of his scythes to hook Basch's sword. The other scythe was used to strike the sword from below closer to the hilt, causing Basch to lose his grip on it. As the sword clattered to the ground, Shadow twisted down to knock Basch's feet out from under him. Before he even hit the ground, Shadow smashed the blunt side of his scythe into the boy's face, knocking him out cold. Calmly and saying nothing, Shadow turned to the remaining hunters expectantly, as if to say; 'who's next?'

Cloud and Hope edged forward slowly, wary of what had happened to Basch, while Balthier hung back, fully aware of his injury. Suddenly Cloud lunged forward, rapidly followed by Hope throwing his boomerang at the enemy. Once again it almost seemed like he wasn't even trying; Shadow sidestepped Cloud's strike and launched a scythe at Hope before catching the boomerang straight out of the air. Hope was caught off guard and had no weapon to block with, so the scythe buried itself deep into Hope's shoulder. The boy stumbled backwards before falling to his knees, no longer having the strength to stay on his feet. The scythe lodged in Hope's body rapidly disintegrated until all that remained was a gaping, bloody hole. Shadow threw the boomerang to the ground and the weapon that remained in his control grew into a full sized scythe. Cloud used this time to insert an ice crystal into one of the slots in his sword. Ice began to form along the blade and continued after reaching the end, extending the sword to almost twice its original length. Cloud made sure to push his new advantage; not allowing Shadow anywhere close to him and making sure he stayed far out of range of the scythe. Shadow quickly realised he was getting nowhere with his current method so he leapt back, placing a palm flat on the ground as he landed. Cloud's confusion was short lived as almost immediately dark tendrils appeared from the ground, grabbing the poor boy and holding him in place. One last appendage slowly slithered up to Cloud's throat and began choking the life out of him.

The situation was dire; both Hope and Basch were down and out, Cloud was incapacitated and Balthier was badly injured and low on aura thanks to his foray with the twins. There was nothing left to try, if Cloud couldn't beat their opponent with combat skill alone then Balthier had no chance. Making sure eye-contact was maintained, Balthier activated his semblance one last time. As soon as he invaded Shadows mind Balthier could tell something was different. It was like running full speed into an impenetrable barrier, no matter what he tried he couldn't get anywhere, see anything or manipulate any part of the mind. Suddenly there was a great force pushing him out and a voice. _Get. Out. Of my head_. Balthier was ejected and when he regained use of his own eyes he found Shadow inches from his face.

"My mind is mine alone. No one is allowed to see in there." It was the most emotion Balthier had seen from him all night, even if it was only a cold anger. Unfortunately for the young knight, the cold anger was directed at him and Shadow was going to take it out on the poor boy. The murderer delivered a swift but painful punch to Balthier's side where his wound was. Balthier cried out in pain and saw his vision darken. As he involuntarily bended forwards, he felt Shadow roll over his back and swing his scythe into the hunter's stomach, using his momentum to lift Balthier into the air and slam his back into the ground.

As Balthier clung desperately to consciousness he heard laughing and conversation, though he only caught the odd phrase.  
"You took them all out?"  
"Take them to… may get… ransom."  
That was the last thing he heard before Balthier felt hands grab his body and he lost consciousness.

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**Told you the action would start ramping up now!**

**I'm off school now so I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker than I have been posting in the past, though that may depend on other factors.**

**Finally I'd just like to ask you to review one more time, and Merry Christmas!**


	11. Blaze

**Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. Been incredibly busy lately as is often the case.**

**I won't take up too much of your precious time with a long intro so, as always, please review and enjoy.**

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When Balthier came to, the first thing he noticed was the cold. It bit into his body and his extremities were already numb. He automatically flared his aura and immediately felt the cold retreat, feeling returning to his body. With the cold off his mind, Balthier could focus on his other problems. Firstly, where was he? He seemed to be inside some kind of cramped box and the steady vibrations Balthier could feel suggested that he was on the move somewhere. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, the knight could see that his prison was barely large enough to contain him and surrounded him on all sides. His hands were bound uncomfortably behind his back but he was still able to feel the edges of the container. Balthier laughed; so they told him he watched too many spy films and still had the audacity to dump him in a wooden transport crate. How cliché can you get? Suddenly Balthier remembered how he has gotten into this situation and the events preceding his capture. He began to worry about his teammates, especially Hope. Shadow managed to throw his scythe hard enough so that it punched straight through the boy's aura and deep into his shoulder. Did his capturers treat Hope, or did they simply leave him to fend for himself?

No time to worry, Balthier decided. The others would just have to fend for themselves until their leader could find them. The knight directed his aura to his arms and pulled, attempting to escape from his bindings. No matter how hard he pulled though, he couldn't break free. His aura refused to do as he commanded, for some reason he couldn't collect any great amount of aura in any one part of his body. It was a mystery that Balthier guessed would soon be revealed, as the vibrations and sounds characteristic of a moving vehicle came to a sudden halt. He could hear muffled and unintelligible voices, sounding as if they were far away and a loud clanging that Balthier figured was the back of the transport opening. Suddenly he felt his crate being lifted and carried before being unceremoniously and painfully dropped. Then, with much grunting from the outside, the top of the crate was pried off. Light flooded in and temporarily blinded Balthier, but as his eyes adjusted to the brightness after the long trip in the pitch black, he could see that he had been delivered to a huge warehouse of some kind. There were rows and rows of shelves stacked upon which, were an uncountable supply of weapons ranging from the common sword, to more exquisite types even including high powered explosives. It was clear he had been taken to an armoury or weapons cache of some kind, but why?

Balthier was dragged to his feet by an unknown man from behind and forced towards a nearby door. A familiar voice told him to get moving. Balthier turned to see the scarred man who had found him spying the first time Team BCDA met the thugs from The Unity. The older man had removed his balaclava and Balthier could see that his scar ran across his face, from below his ear all the way to his chin. Electing not to speak, Balthier grudgingly began to walk in the direction indicated. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the rest of his friends being freed from their respective crates, including Hope. Balthier strained his neck in an attempt to see the condition of his teammate and his shoulder, but Frosty pushed him through the door into a long corridor.

"Checking up on your friend?" He sneered. "Don't worry, we patched up the brat. He won't die... Yet."

As Balthier was led through the warehouse with his team close behind, he periodically attempted to break free of his bonds, but he still couldn't focus aura. Balthier's exertions were not missed by Frosty.

"You're not breaking free of those ropes anytime soon." He boasted. "You can't use aura while one of my runes is on them. It's a semblance unique to my family; runes and glyphs."

The gears in Balthier's mind began whirring at the mention of glyphs, he was certain he had heard that term before somewhere. Suddenly it clicked.

"You're a Schnee aren't you?" He guessed.

Frosty laughed. "So you've seen our abilities before have you?" He appeared to be in deep thought for a moment, as if he were trying to remember something. "That's right, little Weiss is starting at Beacon this year. How is my brat of a younger cousin these days?"

Balthier remained silent, not wanting to become too friendly with his kidnapper and let something slip. It was strange to hear Weiss being referred to as "little," if she were here then Frosty would most likely be rolling on the floor, nursing his crotch. The jailer merely grunted at the lack of conversation and led him further into the hideout.

* * *

"Basch, what do I always tell you about your constant walking back and forth?"

Team BCDA had been led to a small, makeshift prison cell that was no more than a storage cupboard and had been left there for almost an hour, though the passage of time was difficult to measure. All of their equipment had been taken away, including their weapons and scrolls, and they had been abandoned with a locked door keeping them from the outside world. A very sturdy door, as Basch found out at the cost of a bruised shoulder. Their captors had decided to leave the hunters tied up, giving Balthier the perfect opportunity to inspect the rune Frosty had placed upon the ropes. The pattern was intricate, but Balthier was determined to memorise every line with the aid of his semblance; one never knows when something like this could come in handy. The hour had been spent mostly in silence after a brief discussion with Hope over the condition of his shoulder. None of the boys had a plan and made the unanimous decision to wait and see what would happen. Suddenly they heard voices on the other side of the door before it was unlocked and Frosty with a group of his lackeys entered the room. When questioned as to what was about to happen, all but Frosty refused to speak, and his reply told them nothing of use.

"You're wanted elsewhere."

A silent, but short journey to what Balthier could only describe as a war-room. Maps were laid out across several tables and were covered in markers of varying colours. The knight guessed the markers represented the armies of the four kingdoms alongside the terrorists of The Unity and the creatures of grimm. In the centre of the room stood a lone man, most likely in his mid-thirties and was dressed in a suit almost identical to Shadow's with the only difference being that this man's was a dark shade of red. He had an air of authority about him; as if it were taken for granted that his every command would be followed to the letter. His eyes glinted with a hint of amusement when he saw the group enter the room. Like Shadow, the two headed eagle was pinned to the breast pocket of his suit, and it also appeared on a large banner on the wall behind him. Now that it was larger, Balthier could see that, although it had no eye, the forward facing head was more armoured than the other. The man in red saw where Balthier was looking and grinned, deciding to finally speak.

"You like the aquila?" When Balthier refused to answer, he carried on regardless. "It represents The Unity's purpose and reasons: the eagle with sight looks back to the past so that we may learn from it, and the armoured eagle tells us that, although we cannot know the future, we will be prepared for it."

Balthier was less than impressed by the man's speech. "I don't care for your pointless prattle. Just tell us what you're going to do to us."

The older man's grin never wavered. "Tell me Balthier, your name is Balthier isn't it? Tell me, when you look to the past, what do you see?"

"I dunno. History was never my strongest subject. Now combat, that's a completely different story, untie me and I'll prove it."

The man chuckled at Balthier's defiance before donning a dark expression. "When I look, I see war. The centuries have seen countless wars in which countless soldiers and civilians alike have perished. The kingdoms made no attempt to avoid these massacres and ultimately they achieved nothing. And why should they stop now; peace had never lasted long in the past so why does anyone believe that this one will. We may not be able to see the future, but we can predict it and be prepared for it."

Balthier was taken aback. "You're preparing for war by bombing Vale and killing innocents?"

The terrorist simply smirked. "It looks like that, but this only the beginning. First, we show off our power, then we take Vale and force the government to give us the kingdom, using the entirety of the city as hostages. Unlike the fools who sent off soldiers to die a pointless death, those we kill die for a greater purpose."

Once again the boys were visibly shocked. "Who are you to decide who should live and who should die?" Basch exclaimed.

Without his smile wavering, the man answered. "I am Blaze, the leader of The Unity, and in the near future I will command the armies of Vale to unite the world under the aquila and war will finally end!"

The boys were rendered speechless; the man was clearly insane, but Blaze had the resources and manpower to make a very good attempt at making his mad dreams a reality. Suddenly Hope realised something chilling.

"If you're telling us this, then you're clearly not planning on letting us go."

Blaze laughed again, clearly enjoying their fear and revulsion. "You're correct young man, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to die. You have a choice: join my army and help me usher in a new age of peace, or refuse, be tortured and then join me because anything is better than what I'm capable of."

Blaze had moved so that his face was inches away from Balthier's and whispered the end of the last sentence so that only the leader could hear it. Balthier made his reply very simple. The knight spat directly into the madman's face.

"Go fuck yourself." Balthier told him

Blaze sighed as he wiped his face clean. Suddenly he grabbed Balthier's hair and twisted his head round, his amused expression gone.

"Do you know why I call myself Blaze? Much like your friend Shadow, I named myself after my semblance. I have a unique and extremely powerful ability: I can control energy, and one of my favourite tricks is to use this ability to speed up all the molecules in a person's body. Tell me, do you know what happens when a particle speeds up?"

Balthier suddenly felt himself begin to sweat, his core was rapidly rising in temperature.

"_It gets hotter_." Blaze whispered. "And as the temperature rises, eventually the body can't take it and... _Poof!_"

The heat was getting unbearable, yet Balthier could see that it was only him being affected.

"... Spontaneous combustion."

Just as suddenly as it began the heat started to subside and slink away, allowing Balthier to return to a normal temperature. Blaze let go of Balthier's hair and spoke to all four of the boys.

"They say that being burnt alive is one of the worst possible ways to die, but I'm certain I can come up with something far more excruciating."

Suddenly one of the grunts of The Unity barged into the room looking worried, interrupting Blaze before he could finish threatening the young hunters.

"Sir! Scouts are reporting several military aircraft heading straight to this location. They say Ozpin himself is among them!"

Blaze didn't seem surprised in the slightest that his location had found. Instead, he started to grin again.

"It's a pity I don't have the time or resources for a battle just yet; I'd love to stay and catch up with my old friend but it can't be helped." He turned to face the hunters again. "Bad luck boys, turns out you _are_ going to die today." He looked to a figure behind Balthier that he couldn't twist round to see from his current position. "I trust you can deal with this lot while I go on ahead?"

Balthier heard no reply but Blaze must have been satisfied as he quickly left through a different door. Balthier struggled against his bonds but the rune blocking his aura still held strong. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice.

"I don't kill kids."

Then everything went dark.

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**I won't give give a huge speech about Monty's passing as I feel the time has passed. But I will say that nothing has ever inspired me to the extent that RWBY and Monty Oum have. Never would I have dreamed that I would write anything creative outside of school, yet here I am. When the news reached me, one of the first things I did was pick up my phone and begin writing the next chapter of a fanfic that I seriously considered giving up. Matt told the community that the best way to honour Monty was with something creative; the least I can do to remember him is to see this story to its conclusion.**

**Remember: If you don't say goodbye, then they're not really gone. They're just not here right now.**


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